CHAPTER XVII.
MOVEMENTS OF THE CENTRAL ARMY UNDER THE DUKE DEL INFANTADO. BATTLE OF UCLES. RETREAT FROM CUENCA. CARTAOJAL APPOINTED TO THE COMMAND. PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH. SIR ROBERT WILSON ENTERS CIUDAD RODRIGO. NEGOTIATION CONCERNING THE ADMISSION OF BRITISH TROOPS INTO CADIZ.
♦1808.
December.
Sir John Moore’s movements, fatal as they were to his army and himself, and most injurious to public opinion in England, were not without some good effect, though far inadequate to the price at which it was purchased. They drew into Galicia those forces which would otherwise have taken possession of Lisbon and of Seville, and they afforded the Junta time for raising new levies and bringing new armies into the field. The spirit of the nation was in no degree abated; their numerous defeats, the loss of their capital, and the treachery of chiefs in whom they had entirely trusted, seemed rather to exasperate than dismay them; and there would have been no lack of strength had there been arms for the willing people, officers to discipline them, a government which could have provided for their support, and generals capable of directing their zeal and courage. A memorable instance of the national disposition was displayed in the little town of Luzena. According to a decree of the Junta, four men of every hundred were to be drawn for military service; all who were liable to the lot assembled, 400 in number, and when the magistrate was proceeding to ballot for sixteen, the whole 400 volunteered, and marched off that same day to join the troops at Seville.
♦Condition of Infantado’s army at Cuenca.♦
Had the British army made a stand in Galicia, as there was every reason to expect, the Duke del Infantado was to have advanced from Cuenca upon Ocaña and Aranjuez, and in conjunction with the army collected at La Carolina, under the Marques del Palacio, to have pushed for Madrid. The retreat of Sir John Moore frustrated this plan; the Duke was then ordered to remain on the defensive, and new levies were sent to reinforce him as fast as they were raised. But in the miserable circumstances of his army, increase of numbers was no increase of strength. Arms, clothing, and provision were wanting; it was alike without resources, discipline, or system; in want of efficient officers of every rank, and those which there were, were divided into cabals and factions. The province of Cuenca was the best point which could have been chosen for deriving supplies from La Mancha, Murcia, and Valencia, the two latter provinces as yet unexhausted by the war; but it was not a military position. The city stands upon high ground, where the Huecar falls into the Jucar at the skirts of Monte de S. Christobal, and it is completely commanded by the ♦Infantado, Manifiesto, 32–37.♦ heights. All that the Duke could hope for in case he were attacked was to secure his retreat, and for this purpose he occupied some eminences on the left bank of the Huecar, leaving the road to Valencia by Moya open for his artillery. The van was stationed at Jabaya, four leagues from Cuenca, in the direction of Madrid.
The Duke had acquired some reputation in the former war with France when serving as Colonel of a regiment which he had raised himself. He had now given the highest proof of devotion to his country, in accepting a command under circumstances which rendered success absolutely impossible, and yet where any disaster would compromise his reputation, and expose him to the suspicion and fury of his own soldiers. In endeavouring to restore order among the troops, and to obtain food and clothing for them, he was indefatigable; no man could have exerted himself with greater activity and zeal. The condition of his army indeed, officers as well as men, was pitiable. The military chest having been taken to Zaragoza, they were without pay; and a great proportion of those who had endured the fatigue and sufferings of the retreat were now sinking under the effects. They lay upon straw, half-naked, in that severe season, and in the keen climate of that high country, ... hundreds were perishing thus. The Duke established hospitals, collected beds from the city and from all the places within reach, appointed officers to the sole charge of seeing that the sick were supplied, and ordered the friars to attend upon them. His authority was exerted as far as it would extend, and when that failed, he begged for their support. These exertions were not without effect; the progress of disease was ♦Infantado, 42–44.♦ stopped, men and stores were obtained, subordination was restored, and with little efficient strength there was the appearance as well as the name of an army.
♦Dreams of offensive operations.♦
The Spaniards were not sensible how low they had fallen as a military people. Remembering what they had been, no lessons, however severe, could make them see themselves as they were; and this error was not confined to the multitude; it was partaken by all ranks, and seemed, indeed, inherent in the national character. It was an error which exposed their armies always to defeat, and yet as a nation rendered them invincible; ... the French could have invaded no people whom it would have been so easy to rout, none whom it was so impossible to subdue. Infantado had his full share of this delusion; he planned extensive and combined operations, such as required good troops, intelligent officers, and ready means; ... he thought of relieving Zaragoza, ... of recovering Madrid; or of pursuing the left wing of that army which was then employed against the English; ... and this with men and leaders whose incapacity was manifest upon every occasion. Upon intelligence that about 1500 French cavalry were scouring the country on both sides of the Tagus, and plundering great part of the provinces of Cuenca and La Mancha, he concerted a scheme for surprising them at Aranjuez and ♦Movement against the French at Tarancon frustrated.♦ Tarancon, sending Venegas with 4000 foot and 800 horse to attack them in the latter place, while D. Antonio de Senra, with an equal force of foot and 1000 horse, was to fall upon Aranjuez, overcome the enemy there, and intercept those who would retreat thither in their endeavour to escape from Tarancon. The attempt failed, wholly through mismanagement. Senra stopped short at El Horcajo, in fear of a detachment of French cavalry at Villanueva del Cardete, though that force had been calculated upon in the combinations of Infantado. The division with Venegas lost their way in the night and the snow; some went in one direction, some in another, ... the cavalry who were thus separated had no directions how to act; and the infantry, instead of surprising the enemy in Tarancon, were themselves surprised ♦Infantado, 45–55.♦ by them. There were, however, some good troops among them, who stood firm, and the ♦Dec. 25.♦ French, being very inferior in number, retreated with some loss to Aranjuez.
♦Venegas falls back from Tarancon to Ucles.♦
This failure had the ill effect of creating discord among the Spaniards. Infantado blamed the commanders; they reproached the officers under them; and both were willing to excuse themselves by supposing that what had failed in the execution had been planned unskilfully. Yet, as some advantage had been gained, the Duke resolved to pursue it.... The left bank being now cleared as far as Aranjuez, he hoped to take possession of that point and of Ocaña, and as in that rainy season the Tagus was nowhere fordable, his purpose was to remove the boats, break down the bridges, and place himself at Toledo. Venegas therefore was ordered to canton his troops in Tarancon, Ucles, and the neighbouring villages, preparatory to this movement, and his force was increased to 8000 foot and 1900 horse, ... the commander-in-chief retaining with himself about 10,000, of whom a third part were without arms, and a considerable number otherwise unfit for service. This ♦1809.♦ was their position at the beginning of the year. Of what was passing in other parts they were ill-informed, and the false reports which abound in such times were always on the favourable side. They believed the French in Madrid were in hourly fear that this army would appear before the capital; and that Romana had entirely destroyed the enemy at Guadarama. Some movements, however, on the part of the French about Aranjuez made Venegas resolve to fall back from Tarancon upon Ucles. He apprehended that it was their intention to attack the part of his force which was stationed at this latter place, and he resolved therefore to march his troops thither as a better position than Tarancon, and one where he might cover the army.
♦1809.
January.
Ucles is a decayed town, where the Knights of Santiago had their chief convent in the bright ages of that military order: here their banner was kept which Gregory XI. had blessed, and which the Kings of Spain delivered to every new master on his appointment: hither the knights from all the other provinces resorted when their services were required, and from hence they had set forth for the conquest of Cordoba, and Seville, and Jaen, and Murcia. To a Spaniard of these times it was a melancholy place, for the proud as well as the mournful recollections which it recalled; for here Alonso VI. had lost his only son, in the most disastrous defeat that the Christians had ever suffered from the Moors since the destruction of the kingdom of the Goths. He fell in battle with the Almoravides; and because seven Counts had died bravely in defending the Infante, the African fanatics, in their insolent triumph, called the spot where they fell the Place of the Seven Swine. This ill-omened ground was now to become the scene of an action disgraceful to the Spaniards for the facility with which they were routed, and infamous to the French for the enormous wickedness with which they abused their victory.
Venegas supposed that the French were bringing forces against him across the Tagus, by the ferry at Villamanrique. His danger was from a different quarter. Victor had marched from Toledo against Infantado’s army, knowing as little of the Spaniards’ movements as they did of his, but with such troops, that his only anxiety was to find the enemy, and bring them to action wherever they might be found. Victor himself, with General Ruffin’s division, went by way of Alcazar, and General Villate, taking the direction of Ucles, discovered the Spaniards there on the morning of the 13th. Venegas apprehended an attack on his right, or in the rear; but the French crossed the brook, and fell upon the left wing of the Spaniards, who were stationed upon some high and broken ground, commanding the convent and the town. If the general erred in not strengthening this position, the troops allowed him no time for remedying his error; they retreated precipitately to the town, and when orders came to occupy the convent it was too late; ... the enemy were within the enclosure, and fired from thence, as under cover of a parapet. The panic presently spread, the raw levies disordered those who would have done their duty, and many officers made a brave but vain sacrifice of their own lives in endeavouring to rally and encourage the men. The fugitives in one direction came upon the enemy’s artillery, under General Cenarmont, and were cut down with grape-shot; in another they fell in with Victor and the remaining part of the French army. One body, under D. Pedro Agustin Giron, seeing that all was lost, made their way desperately through the enemy in good order, and got to Carrascosa, where they found the Duke. It was a series of errors on the part of the Spaniards, and the consequences were as disastrous as they could be. The French boasted of having taken 300 officers and 12,000 men, ... the whole force, however, which Venegas had with him did not amount to this, but the loss was very great. The prisoners were marched to ♦Rocca, p. 79.♦ Madrid, and such as fell by the way from hunger and exhaustion were shot by their inhuman captors.
♦Cruelties committed there by the French.♦
Never indeed did any men heap upon themselves more guilt and infamy than those by whom this easy conquest was obtained. The inhabitants of Ucles had taken no part in the action; from necessity they could only be passive spectators of the scene. But they had soon cause to lament that they had not rather immolated their wives and children with their own hands, like the Numantians of old, and then rushed upon the invaders to sweeten death with vengeance, instead of submitting to the mercy of such enemies. Plunder was the first object of the French, and in order to make the townspeople discover where their valuables were secreted, they tortured them. When they had thus obtained all the portable wealth of the place, they yoked the inhabitants like beasts, choosing especially the clergy for this outrage, loaded them with their own furniture, and made them carry it to the Castle Hill, and pile it in heaps, where they set fire to it, and consumed the whole. They then in mere wantonness murdered above threescore persons, dragging them to the shambles, that this butchery might be committed in its proper scene. Several women were among these sufferers, and they might be regarded as happy in being thus delivered from the worse horrors that ensued: for the French laid hands on the surviving women of the place, amounting to some three hundred, ... they tore the nun from the altar, the wife from her husband’s corpse, the virgin from her mother’s arms, and they abused these victims of the foulest brutality, till many of them expired on the spot. This was not all, ... but the farther atrocities which these monsters perpetrated cannot even be hinted at without violating the decencies of language and the reverence which is due to humanity. These unutterable things were committed in open day, and the officers made not the slightest attempt at restraining the wretches under their command; they were employed in securing the best part of the plunder for themselves. The Spanish government published the details of this wickedness, in order ♦Gazeta del Gobierno, April 24, 1809.♦ that if the criminals escaped earthly punishment, they might not escape perpetual infamy.
♦Infantado collects the fugitives.♦
Infantado was severely censured for exposing his advanced guard fourteen leagues from his head-quarters, so that support was impossible; and an equal want of judgement had been shown by Venegas in not falling back upon the main body, which he knew was actually on the way to join him. The Duke left Cuenca on the morning preceding the action, and took up his quarters that night at Horcajada. Desirous to know for what reason Venegas had retreated from Tarancon, he rode forward on the 13th with his aides-de-camp, and when he reached Carrascosa, which is a league and half from Ucles, some carriers informed him that as they were leaving that town they heard firing at the outposts. Part of his troops were at Carrascosa; they had heard nothing; and the Duke was preparing to sit down to table with their general, the Conde de Orgaz, when news came that horse and foot were approaching in disorder. Immediately he mounted and rode forward; the first person whom he met was the commandant of the light troops, D. Francisco Copons y Navia, an officer in whom he had great confidence: seeing him without his battalion, he knew that some fatal blow must have been sustained, and asking what had happened, was told that the troops at Ucles were all either killed or taken. His first impulse was to rush forward, and throw himself upon the enemy’s bayonets. A timely thought of duty withheld him from this act of desperation. The troops under Giron, who had fought their way through the French, came up now in good order; with these and with such fugitives as could be brought together, he made dispositions which checked the pursuit in this direction, and retired when the evening was ♦Infantado, 119–132.♦ closing to Horcajada. They rested there during the early part of the night, and setting forward at three in the morning, reached the Venta de las Cabrejas before daybreak.
♦Retreat from Cuenca.♦
Here, while the troops were receiving their rations, the generals held a council whether they should retreat to the borders of Valencia, and take up a position for the defence of that kingdom, which was threatened on the side of Daroca; or join the Marques del Palacio in La Mancha, and if compelled, fall back to La Carolina or Despeña-Perros; or march for Zaragoza, to attack the besiegers, and raise the siege. This was gravely proposed; but the madness of making such an attempt with an unprovided, undisciplined, routed army, dispirited by a long series of disasters, and above all, by the scandalous defeat of the preceding day, was universally acknowledged. The scheme of joining Palacio, and making for the Sierra Morena, was likewise rejected, because in the plains of La Mancha they would be exposed to the enemy’s cavalry; and it was resolved without a dissentient voice to retreat into Valencia, where there were great resources for refitting and increasing the troops. This being determined, the army reached Cuenca that night, and continued its retreat on the following morning, the artillery being sent off in the middle of the night by a better road, to join them at Almodovar del Pinar. But four-and-twenty hours of the heaviest rain rendered this road also impassable; and in spite of every exertion the greater number of the guns could not be got farther than Olmedilla, one league from Cuenca, by the following midnight, and there the escort left them. The Duke, who was with the artillery himself, in hope of expediting the most difficult part of their movements, had preceded them to Tortola, where a few of the guns had arrived, and whither the rest were to be brought next day, the worst part of the road being past. He sent orders therefore that one regiment of horse and another of foot should be dispatched to Tortola, for the purpose of escorting the artillery when it should be thus brought together, and went himself to join the army at ♦Loss of the artillery.♦ Valera de arriba. On his arrival there on the evening of the 16th he found that no infantry had been sent; being barefooted and exhausted by marching in such weather, they had been deemed actually incapable of the service. Presently advice arrived that a company of the Ordenes Militares, which he had left at Tortola, had thought proper to leave the place immediately after his departure: that a party of enemy’s cavalry had come up, and that the regiment of dragoons at the very sound of the French trumpets had taken flight, abandoning the guns to them. He now ordered a battalion of infantry and the Farnese regiment of dragoons to hasten and retake them: the night was dark, the distance considerable, the roads in the worst imaginable state; and when at daybreak they came to Tortola, scarcely an hundred infantry could be mustered, the rest having lost the way, or dispersed. The dragoons behaved well, and twice made themselves masters of the guns, but to no purpose; they were embedded in the soil too deeply to be removed at once; and while they were vainly labouring there, reinforcements came up to the enemy, and many brave men were sacrificed before the regiment desisted from the attempt at saving these guns, which with such exertions had been brought thither from Tudela. Infantado knew that any farther effort, considering the state of his army, must be hopeless, and would moreover expose him to the imminent danger of having his retreat cut off, for one column of the enemy appeared to be taking the direction of Almodovar; and in fact when the Duke reached that place, it was ascertained that they were within three leagues of it. After a few hours’ rest therefore he ordered the retreat to be continued to La Motilla del Palancar, near Alarcon; and being, however unfortunate as a commander, willing to perform a soldier’s part to the last, took his station with his own family and his orderly dragoons, as an outpost, within three miles of the enemy. This had an excellent effect upon the troops; so many indeed had deserted since the rout at Ucles, that few perhaps remained except those who acted upon a sense of duty, and their movements were now conducted with more composure. Infantado remained at La Motilla till he was assured that the French had turned aside from the pursuit; removing then to Albacete and Chinchilla, he gave his troops a few days’ necessary ♦Infantado, 133–141.♦ rest, and issued directions for the better observance of discipline and order.
♦Infantado frustrates a movement of the enemy against the Carolina army.♦
On the 25th the army moved to Hellin and Tobarra, the object being to cover Murcia, call off the attention of the enemy from Valencia, and receive reinforcements from both those kingdoms and from Andalusia. Infantado was more enterprising and more hopeful than some of the generals under his command, who would have had him retreat to the city of Murcia, there to refit his troops, or take shelter even at Carthagena. The minister at war submitted to his consideration whether it would not be advisable to take up a position between the Peñas de S. Pedro and Carcelen, for the purpose of communicating with the Sierra Morena by the Sierra de Alcaraz. This the Duke thought a bad position in itself, even if it were not in a desert, and without water; and as he had ascertained that Victor was moving upon Villarrobledo with the intention of cutting off the vanguard of the Carolina army at Villarta, he took measures for averting a blow, which, if it had succeeded, would have left the passes of the Sierra Morena open to the enemy. It had been intended that this detachment, consisting of 5000 men, should have co-operated with him in his projected movement upon Toledo, which had been so fatally frustrated at Ucles; they were therefore under his command. He now ♦1809.
February.♦ sent orders that they should instantly retire to S. Cruz de Mudela, or to El Viso; and while he hastened thither himself to join them, sent off 500 horse, divided into four parties, to act as guerillas in the rear of the French. They did this with great success, imposing upon them by their rapidity and boldness: and the Duke by forced marches reached S. Cruz de Mudela in time to save the Carolina troops, the enemy having just arrived in front of them. The French, seeing a force which they had not expected, and were not in strength to attack, retired toward Toledo, leaving the open country to the Spaniards: and Infantado then communicated ♦Infantado, 180–189.♦ with General Cuesta, that he might act in concert with the army of Extremadura.
♦Infantado superseded by Cartaojal.♦
The troops had now recovered heart; the advanced guard, under the Duque del Alburquerque, gained some advantage at Mora, where, ♦Feb. 18.♦ by a well-planned expedition, he surprised the French; and Infantado thought that he had performed no inconsiderable service to his country, in having gathered up the wreck of the central army, and brought it into an efficient state, when he received an order from the Supreme Junta to give up the command to the ♦Feb. 6.♦ Conde de Cartaojal. He obeyed reluctantly, and with the feelings of an injured man. The government at that time perhaps, like the people, attributed too large a part of their disasters to the generals, and therefore appointed and displaced them upon no better ground than that of complying with public opinion. The soldiers appear to have been well satisfied with the Duke; they indeed had seen the incessant exertions which he had made for supporting them when the government could send them no supplies: but the officers were divided into cabals, and there was a strong party against him. His offended pride did not however abate his desire of continuing to serve his country in the field, and he requested permission to remain with the army as Colonel of the Royal Spanish Guards; but he was informed that this was incompatible with his elevated rank, and therefore he was ♦Feb. 12.♦ called to Seville. No inquiry concerning the rout at Ucles was instituted; the opinion prevailed that it was imputable to his error in exposing the advanced guard at such a distance from the body of his army; but the faults with which he charged Venegas were overlooked, and the government continued to place a confidence in that General, to which, in any other capacity than that of a commander, his honourable character and personal qualities entitled him.
♦Calumnies against Castaños.♦
The French, at the commencement of their revolutionary war, sent every unsuccessful general to the scaffold, the Convention in its bloody acts keeping pace with the bloodiest desires of a deceived and infuriated populace. The Central Junta contracted no such guilt, though humanity is not the characteristic of the Spaniards, and justice in state affairs had in that country for centuries been unknown. They gave ♦1809.♦ no ear to vulgar or malignant accusations; but, on the other hand, they allowed their generals no opportunity of vindicating themselves. Upon this ground Castaños, as well as Infantado, had cause to complain. The order which called him from the command of the central army during its retreat intimated no dissatisfaction at his conduct; on the contrary, it summoned him to take the presidency of the Military Junta, saying that the fate of armies depended upon the plans which were laid down for them. That restless intriguer, the Conde de Montijo, who had visited him at his head-quarters at Tudela, professed the warmest friendship towards him, and spoken of him in the language of unbounded admiration, left the army suddenly two days before the battle, and wherever he went reported that Castaños was a traitor, and had sold the country to the French. This nearly proved fatal to the General, when, in obedience to his summons, he set out to join the Central Junta, taking with him merely such an escort as his rank required: for he soon found that fifteen horse and thirty foot were not sufficient to protect him from imminent danger; the clamour which Montijo raised had spread far and wide, and they could not enter a village without preparations as serious as if they were about to engage in action. At Miguel-turra, in La Mancha, the Junta exerted themselves ineffectually to restrain the populace, who were crying out, Kill him! kill him! The members of that body, the better to secure him, gathered round his person, and accompanied him on foot; the rabble pressed upon them with blind fury, and their lives, as well as that of Castaños, would have been sacrificed, if his cavalry had not charged the multitude sword in hand, and opened the way. But the danger was not over when he had been housed; the house was beset, and it was only by the exertions of the better classes, and especially of a priest, that he was enabled to leave the place before daybreak the following morning. It became necessary for them to avoid all populous places, and take up their lodging in the smallest and most retired hamlets; and yet with these precautions his life was frequently threatened. In addition to this evil there was the uncertainty of knowing whither to direct his course: three times on his journey he found that the Central Junta had changed their place of residence; and when he finally made for Seville, it was with a belief that they had removed to Puerto de Santa Maria. Upon approaching Seville, he was ordered to take up his abode in the monastery of S. Geronimo de Buenavista, and there await the farther determination of the government. Montijo had accused him as an instrument of Tilly, engaged with him in treasonable designs, and also in a scheme for rendering Andalusia independent, and making it the head of a confederacy of ♦Castaños, Representacion, 15–18.♦ provinces. This was the mere fabrication of a man who scrupled at no means for promoting his own insane ambition, and as such the Junta received it; but they deemed it expedient to treat the general as if he were under their displeasure, lest a suspicion, which in its consequences might be most fatal to the country, should be raised against themselves.
♦His memorial to the Junta.♦
Castaños was not aware of the accusation which had been thus preferred; least indeed of all men could he have supposed that a charge of federalism would have been brought against him, who had with so much decision and effect opposed the dangerous disposition of the provincial authorities to consult their own security alone. But he complained of the injurious restraint in which he was placed, and in an able and temperate memorial appealed to his past services, showed that the defeat at Tudela was not imputable to any error or indiscretion on his part (his opinion having been over-ruled by their representative, D. Francisco Palafox), and required that his conduct might be judged of by the circumstances in which he was placed, and the actual condition of his army, not as if he had commanded 80,000 effective men. An army in the field, he said, was like a musical instrument with many keys and many registers: if these did not answer to the touch, if many strings were wanting, and the others not in tune, the best musician would be deemed a sorry performer by those who heard the broken and jarring sounds which he produced, and knew not the state of the instrument. Still, he maintained, the French were far from being able to subdue Spain. Castaños was not unsupported while he thus defended himself with the confidence of an innocent and injured man. The Junta of Seville honourably espoused his cause, and the government allowed him to remove to his own house at Algeciras, there to remain while the inquiry into his conduct which he demanded should be carried on.
♦Intrigues of Montijo.♦
Montijo was one of those men who in disordered times are intoxicated with ambition and vanity. His object in seeking the ruin of Castaños was to obtain a command for himself. He represented to the Junta that the resources by which the miracle of restoring the country might be effected could only be drawn from Andalusia; but that to call them forth activity, energy, patriotism, and above all the confidence of the public were required. Under any other circumstances he should have blushed to designate himself as the person in whom these qualifications were united, and unhappily the only person who possessed the last; but in such an emergency a good Spaniard must sacrifice even his modesty. Spain might still be saved if he were commissioned to take what cavalry he could raise, put himself at the head of the forces in La Mancha, and march upon Madrid; and he pledged his sacred word of honour that he would resign the command as soon as the French should be driven back to the Ebro.
♦1809.
January.♦ This proposal met with as little attention as it deserved; and Montijo then joined the army of Carolina, there to sow fresh intrigues, and meet with deserved humiliation.
♦Progress of the French in Castille and Leon.♦
The French themselves were at this time in such a situation, that the desultory and harassing warfare which the Junta of Seville advised at the commencement of the struggle might now have been pursued against them with great effect. A disposition in some of the marshals to disregard Joseph, and act without any deference to his wishes or commands, had shown itself before Buonaparte left Spain; the attention of the French cabinet was directed toward Austria, and the affairs of Spain were left to the intrusive government, which had in fact no control over the armies by whom alone it was to be supported. But as there was no enemy in the field alert and able enough to take advantage of the fair occasions which offered, the French commanders believed the struggle was at an end, and that they had only to march over the country and receive the submission of the inhabitants. While Victor occupied Toledo, waiting only a convenient season to disperse the hasty levies which were brought together for the defence of Andalusia, General Dorneau marched against Zamora, scaled the walls of that ancient city, and put to death those inhabitants who, in the flagitious language of the French bulletin, were called the most guilty. Castille and Leon were overrun, and wherever they went those scenes of profanation, violence, and murder were exhibited, in which Buonaparte’s soldiers were systematically allowed to glut the worst passions of corrupted and brutalized humanity.
♦New levies raised by the Spaniards.♦
Yet while the country was thus at the mercy of the French, the panic which their appearance every where excited extended nowhere beyond their immediate presence. In all places which were not actually occupied by the enemy, the local authorities acted as if no enemy had been at hand, and their own government had been as efficient as it was legitimate. The enlisting went on, and promises of speedy triumph and sure deliverance were held forth with a confidence which no reverses could shake. The fugitives from the different armies no sooner reached their own homes than they were again enrolled to be embodied, and exposed again to privations and sufferings such as those from which they had so hardly escaped. Before their strength was recruited, they were sent off to form new armies, neither better disciplined, better commanded, nor better provided than those which had been routed and dispersed. They went hungered, half naked, and cursing their fortune, without confidence in their officers, each other, or themselves, yet believing fully that the deliverance of Spain would be effected with a faith which seemed to require and perhaps very generally expected miracles for its fulfilment. Human means indeed seem to have been provided as little as if they had not been taken into the account.
♦Temporizing conduct of certain magistrates.♦
This unreasoning confidence brought with it evil as well as good. Many of those who had something to lose, and hoped that part at least might be saved by submission, took either side according as the scale inclined. When the enemy was absent, they joined the national voice, which expressed what were their real feelings: if the French appeared, they were ready to take the oaths, and act under them, as far as was necessary for their own safety or advantage, longing at the same time and looking for the day of deliverance and vengeance. In many places, the magistracy acted with no other view than that of averting from themselves and their immediate jurisdiction as much of the common misery as they could. This was particularly the case in those parts of Leon and Castille which lay most open to the enemy. The enrolment was rigorously enforced there, and men were hurried off: but any means of local defence were rather dreaded than desired. Offers of assistance were made from Ciudad Rodrigo to Ledesma and Salamanca, and both cities declined the proffered aid, as unnecessary; but in truth, because they believed it to be unavailing, and had determined not to provoke the enemy by resistance.
♦Sir Robert Wilson.♦
Ciudad Rodrigo had at that time become a point of great interest, owing to a well-timed movement of Sir Robert Wilson’s with a small body of Portugueze volunteers. This adventurous officer had been rewarded by the Emperor of Germany with the order of Maria Theresa, for a brilliant affair in which the 15th regiment of dragoons was engaged during the siege of Landrecy. He served afterwards in Egypt, and published a history of the British expedition to that country, in which work he charged Buonaparte with the massacre of his prisoners at Jaffa, and the empoisonment of his own sick and wounded. The facts were boldly denied at the time, and willingly disbelieved by Buonaparte’s admirers; they have since been substantiated by ample evidence, and by his own avowal; but the merit of having first proclaimed them was Sir Robert Wilson’s, and it marked him for an object of especial vengeance should he ever fall into the hands of the tyrant, whose true character he had been the first to expose. This rendered him more conspicuous than he would have been for his rank, which was that of Lieutenant-Colonel. Having, in pursuance of the convention, superintended the embarkation of the French at Porto, and by great exertions contributed to save them from the just fury of the populace, he applied himself with ♦He raises a Portugueze legion at Porto.♦ characteristic activity and enterprise to raising and disciplining a Portugueze legion in that city. The plan was entirely approved by Sir Hew Dalrymple, and zealously forwarded by the Bishop. Two thousand men presently presented themselves, and that number might have been increased five-fold could he have relied upon resources for them; for the alertness with which they learned our discipline, the confidence which they acquired, the pride which they felt at being displayed, and which their officers partook in displaying them, excited the emulation of their countrymen. Some jealousy was felt at Lisbon, and some obstacles were thrown in his way, upon the pretext that an invidious distinction would be occasioned between these and the other Portugueze troops. Sir John Cradock, however, when the command in that capital devolved upon him, authorised Sir Robert to act according to his own judgement. His first thought had been to embark for Carthagena, and march from thence to Catalonia. Afterwards, Asturias seemed a nearer and more important point. But after Blake’s army had been dispersed, and before Sir John Moore and Sir David Baird had formed a junction, he resolved to march toward the frontiers, thinking that he might move from Miranda or Braganza, and so to facilitate the communication between them, and cover, as far as his means permitted, the approach to the northern provinces. With this intent he marched the first division of his legion, consisting of 700 men with six pieces of cannon; they were to be followed by the second, under Baron Eben, an Hanoverian officer in the British service; and this by the third. And Sir J. Cradock had ordered a battalion of Portugueze infantry and a regiment of cavalry to join him.
♦Sir Robert goes to Ciudad Rodrigo.♦
When Sir Robert reached Lamego, he there found information, that a small British detachment which had been stationed in Ciudad Rodrigo, had, in consequence of the approaching danger, forsaken it. Always hopeful himself, and well aware of what importance it was that that position should be maintained, he left his troops, and hastened thither to consult with the Junta. It was a point from which he could act upon that division of the enemy who were then forcing their way into Extremadura, ... or, co-operate with any Spanish force that might take the field from Salamanca. The people, on their part, declared their determination to defend the place resolutely; his aid, therefore, was accepted as frankly as it was offered, and the legion accordingly advanced from Lamego through a country almost impracticable at that season. By dint of human exertion, carts and artillery were drawn up steeps which hitherto had been deemed inaccessible for carriages. Sometimes men and officers, breast-deep in the water, dragged the guns through torrents so formidable, that cattle could not be trusted to perform that service. Sometimes, where the carriages would have floated and have been swept away, the wheels were taken off, and they were slidden over on the foot-bridges. Sometimes they were hauled along causeways and connecting bridges so narrow, that the wheels rested on half their fellies upon the stones which were set edge upwards on the verge of the road. It was the first march these troops had ever made, but notwithstanding the severity of such labour, performed at such a season, and during incessant rain, not a man deserted, and there was no straggling, no murmuring amid all their difficulties: they sung as they went along, and reached their resting-place at night with unabated cheerfulness.
♦He refuses to return to Porto.♦
Sir Robert had plainly stated to the Junta that his legion was not to form part of the garrison, but that in every operation without the walls he should think it his duty to aid, and even in defence of the suburbs before the Salamanca gate, as long as his return over the bridge was assured. The Junta and the people of that city displayed a hearty willingness to co-operate with their allies in any manner that might appear most conducive to the common cause; and from that generous spirit they never departed during all the vicissitudes of the war. At first there was a fair prospect of acting offensively; but when the authorities at Ledesma and Salamanca declined the assistance which was offered them from this quarter, Sir Robert, instead of maintaining the line of the Tormes, as he had hoped to do, formed on the Agueda, having his head-quarters at San Felices. When he had marched from the coast, it was with the hope of facilitating the plans and contributing to the success of a British army perfectly equipped and disciplined, strong in itself, and confident in its commanders and its cause. He now learnt that that army was retreating with a speed which the most utter defeat could hardly have precipitated: at the same time he was privately advised to fall back on Porto. But though weak himself, he ♦Effect of his movements.♦ had already ascertained that the French in that part of Spain were not strong, that the activity and appearance of his little corps had imposed upon them a salutary opinion of his strength, and that his continuance there was of no trifling importance, not merely as covering the removal of the British stores from Almeida, but as checking the enemy’s advance in that direction, counteracting the report which they busily spread and indeed believed themselves, that the English had entirely abandoned Spain, encouraging the Spaniards, and gaining time for them to strengthen the works of Ciudad Rodrigo, and for training a brave and well-disposed people.
This became of more consequence when the Junta of that city had, in their own language, “the melancholy honour of being the only one which held out in all Castille,” Ledesma and Salamanca having, without a show of resistance, admitted the enemy. For him to obtain intelligence was as easy, owing to the disposition of the people, as it was difficult for the French. Having ascertained that they had few cavalry and only 1500 foot in Salamanca, that they were proportionally weak in the country about Zamora and Villalpando, and that they had not occupied Ledesma for want of men, he entered Ledesma, carried off, in Ferdinand’s name for the Junta of Rodrigo, the treasure and money which had been raised there for the French in obedience to requisition, and compelled them to seek and convoy what provisions they extorted from the country. They had given public notice that every person who disobeyed their requisitions should be punished with death. Sir Robert sent forth a counter-proclamation, declaring, that if this threat were effected, he would hang a Frenchman for every Spaniard. By incessant activity, attacking their posts in open day, he kept them perpetually on the alarm, and made them apprehend a serious attack on Salamanca itself. Upon that score their apprehensions would have been realized, if the whole force which Sir Robert had raised had been then at his command; or if even with such poor means as he possessed he had not been withheld by orders from Lisbon. But the ♦Part of the legion detained at Porto.♦ remaining corps of his legion had been detained at Porto, and when he had applied for them, and for clothing and military stores, he had been answered that the men were wanted for the defence of Porto itself, and that, even if stores might have been spared, they could not be sent without imminent danger from the people. It was in vain for him to represent that the measures which he had taken were those which were best adapted for the protection of Portugal, by covering her weakest side; that Portugal must be defended beyond her frontiers; that the service in which he was engaged was of all others that in which the troops might soonest acquire the discipline and experience in which the Portugueze soldiers were so notoriously deficient; that he wanted the men only; not provisions, those he could assure to them; not money, for if what had been received from England for the express use of the legion were withheld from it, he would apply elsewhere. ♦Displeasure of the authorities there.♦ Reasoning was of no avail when the danger from the side of Galicia appeared to be so near as in reality it was; and the Bishop of Porto, though he had warmly encouraged the formation of the legion, as an important measure towards restoring the military character of his countrymen, and though Sir Robert had succeeded in gaining his good opinion to a high degree, was nevertheless offended at the disrespect which seemed to be shown to him and the other Portugueze authorities, by the manner in which that officer was now acting as if wholly independent of them. From the Spanish government, however, ♦Rank given him by the Spanish government.♦ Sir Robert received as much encouragement as he could have desired in his most sanguine hopes. They gave him the rank of Brigade-General, and placed the garrison of Ciudad Rodrigo and the troops in the province at his disposal. And this proof of confidence was given at a time when a misunderstanding had arisen between the two cabinets, which might have been fatal to the common cause, if each party had not rendered full justice to the upright intention of the other.
♦1809.
February.
As soon as the dispersion of Blake’s army was known in England, the British government anticipating the disasters which would follow, considered Cadiz as the ultimate point of retreat to which the Spaniards would be driven; there, supported by that fortress on one side, and by Gibraltar on the other, they might make a stand which no force that France could bring against them could overpower. Accordingly, when Sir John Moore’s first intention of retreating was communicated, government resolved that his army should immediately be transferred to the south of Spain, for it was impossible to foresee the miserable state to which the manner of his retreat would reduce it. But the representations of that general concerning the little assistance which he received from the Spaniards, and the little patriotism which he could discover, so far influenced ministers, that they thought it improper to hazard an army in the south, unless a corps of it were admitted into Cadiz. The treachery of Morla, and the danger of similar treasons, rendered this precaution advisable. Upon this subject Mr. Frere was instructed to communicate with the Junta, and as it was not apprehended that the required proof of confidence would be refused, General Sherbrooke, with 4000 men, was ordered to sail immediately for Cadiz. He was not to require the command of the garrison, ... that might have offended the feelings of the Spaniards. If, however, the Junta should not admit him, he was then to proceed to Gibraltar, and any operations in the south were necessarily to be abandoned, though there was no intention even in that case of abandoning the cause of Spain. Sir John Cradock also was instructed to sail for Cadiz, if he should find it necessary to abandon Portugal; but he was not to take this step till he had been apprized of the determination of the Spanish government.
♦Objections of the Spanish government.♦
Before it was known that the Junta had quitted Aranjuez, Sir George Smith had been sent to Cadiz on a local mission, to provide for the possible case of British troops being necessary for the defence of that city, at a time when it might be impracticable to obtain the opinion of the central government. When the government was removed to Seville, his mission ceased with the necessity of it. He, however, not only considered it as still existing, but went beyond his instructions; informed the governor of Cadiz that he had authority to require that British troops should be admitted to garrison that place; and sent to Sir John Cradock, directing him to dispatch troops thither from Lisbon, ... a measure which was not to have been taken except at the direct solicitation of the Spanish authorities at Cadiz. And this he did without waiting for their consent, and without consulting or even communicating with the English ambassador. The Junta immediately conceived that some secret designs were on foot, with which Mr. Frere had not been entrusted, because he had not been thought a proper instrument; and that minister had the vexation of hearing the justice which they did to his frankness urged as a ground for unjust ♦Feb. 7.♦ suspicions. “Cadiz,” they said, “was not threatened, and a measure so extraordinary as that of admitting English troops there might compromise the Supreme Junta with the nation. Many would imagine that the prognostics of Morla, which the government had considered as dreams, had assumed at least an air of reality; and however the Junta might be persuaded of the purity of the motives by which Great Britain was influenced, it would not be in their power to counteract this imagination. Spain had addressed herself to Great Britain, and had obtained succours and good offices, which would for ever redound to the honour of England. Spain had opened her heart to unbounded gratitude; but never could believe that her misfortunes obliged her to this. Let the allied troops disembark in small divisions, so as to leave room for each other, proceed without delay to occupy cantonments at Xeres, Port St. Mary’s, and the neighbourhood, and then pursue their march into the interior. It would be easy to fall back upon Cadiz if that should be necessary; but that necessity was at all events very distant.” This, as the final resolution of King Ferdinand, the Junta (governing in his name) communicated to Mr. Frere: “trusting,” they said, “in his discernment and in his religious probity, that he would feel the truth of their representations, and give the most peremptory orders for the British troops to abide by what had been agreed upon, and under no pretext whatever to remain in the fortress of Cadiz.”
♦Troops arrive in the bay.♦
During these discussions, the two regiments under General Mackenzie, which Sir George Smith had so precipitately ordered from Lisbon, arrived in the bay. About the same time Mr. Frere received a copy of the instructions intended for Sir John Moore, directing him, in case he could not keep his ground in the north, to embark his troops, and carry them round either to Lisbon or to the south of Spain. These the ambassador communicated to the Junta; and at the same time informed them that the British government expected Buonaparte would have driven back the English army into Galicia, and marched himself into Andalusia to make himself master of Seville, and shut the door against every hope of succour. Expecting that he would pursue this plan, government, while it sent these instructions to Sir John Moore, dispatched the corps under General Sherbrooke, with a view of preventing at least the surrender of Cadiz, and ensuring to the auxiliary army ♦Mr. Frere’s representations to the Central Junta.♦ some safe landing-place. In such a scheme, Mr. Frere argued, there was nothing unreasonable; it did not become the British ministers to risk their army without any place of retreat from an enemy who was less formidable for his military force than for the means of corruption which he employed, ... means which the capitulation of Madrid evinced to have been not less successful in Spain than in other countries. Should the English then expose themselves to the danger arising from the enemy’s intrigues, only in deference to the injurious suspicions which that very enemy wished to excite against them in the minds of the Spanish government, ... a government to which that of his Britannic Majesty had never ceased to offer proofs of disinterestedness and of good faith? “The members of the Junta,” said Mr. Frere, “will do me the justice to admit that I have never endeavoured to promote the interests of my nation, but as being essentially connected with those of their own. If, however, I have always been guided by the same sentiments and the same views which a Spanish politician might have, I do not think it is to depart from them, if I deliver the same opinion which I should give had I the honour of occupying a place in the council of your nation; namely, that the whole policy of the Spanish government rests essentially on a persuasion of perfect good faith on the part of England, and that it is important to confirm it more and more by testimonies of mutual confidence, and by avoiding the slightest appearance of distrust between government and government.”
One other point Mr. Frere adverted to, which, though less important, was of great weight. The precariousness of commerce, occasioned by the supposed insecurity of Cadiz, was prejudicial to the finances of Spain. There was no longer a place in the peninsula where British goods could be deposited; and the government was therefore under the necessity of cutting off all mercantile intercourse between the colonies and the rest of the civilized world, or of affording to foreign commerce a security which it could not find in the sole protection of a Spanish garrison. On this head he appealed to the custom-house registers, and to the applications made by neutrals for permission to reship goods, which ♦Reply of the Spanish government. Feb. 17.♦ they did not deem any longer safe. A note was transmitted in reply to this, saying, that the Junta would dispatch an extraordinary courier to London, and empower their minister there to settle a point of so much importance in a manner agreeable to the interests of both nations. Meantime, the English troops which were at present in the bay, and those which should arrive there, might disembark, for the purpose of proceeding to Port St. Mary, San Lucar, Xeres, and the other places proposed for their cantonment. No misfortune which could happen to the Spanish cause could prevent the English from falling back on Gibraltar and Cadiz; and this step would prevent the inconvenience and perhaps sickness to which they might be exposed by remaining on board ship or in Cadiz, the appointed stations being in a country the most healthy in the world.
♦Their proposal for employing the troops.♦
Having thus considered the convenience of the troops, the Junta submitted two propositions to Mr. Frere, the only person, they said, alluding to Sir George Smith’s interference, whom they acknowledged as the representative of the British nation. First, that the British troops should proceed to Catalonia, and garrison the maritime ports of that principality, thus enabling the Spanish army in that quarter to march to the relief of Zaragoza. Secondly, that they should co-operate with Cuesta: that general was threatened by a force not very superior in number to his own, and the assistance of the English might give him the superiority; thus Cadiz would be secured, and time given to set on foot the troops who were now only waiting for muskets from England. The note concluded by expressing a feeling of honourable pain in the Junta, that England should distrust the safety of Cadiz unless it were garrisoned by English troops. They asserted, that the constancy and valour of the Spanish nation, manifested in this arduous struggle, entitled it to the respect of Europe; and, gently hinting at what had passed in Galicia, they requested that a veil might be drawn over it. Cadiz was not situated like Coruña, the same events therefore could not possibly occur there.
♦Conference with Mr. Frere. Feb. 18.♦
Upon the receipt of this note, Mr. Frere requested a conference. They proposed to him that he should name a governor for Cadiz. He replied, it was a responsibility with which he would not charge himself for all the world. Four months ago he should have chosen Morla, Espeleta six months before that: both had been found wanting in the day of trial, though neither had been placed in a situation so trying as that of a governor holding out in the last remaining garrison. Then replying to the argument, that the Junta could not act against popular opinion, “it must likewise be recollected,” he said, “that the British government could not proceed in opposition to an opinion equally decided in England; and which of the two pretensions was the more just? England was willing to expose an English army to any hazard which resulted absolutely from the nature of things; but England would not consent that that danger should be aggravated in the slightest degree, out of deference to the caprice of popular opinion, or suspicions which were unworthy of either country. England required of Spain that it should place confidence in the British government, binding itself by the most formal engagements; Spain offered the choice of a governor and the chance of his fidelity. Our proposal was in every respect the fairest and the most rational, and it could not be expected that we should depart from a demand of right, for the sake of conferring a favour. Mr. Frere offered to propose to General Mackenzie, that he should leave 1000 men in Cadiz, and proceed with the rest to act in concert with Cuesta for the protection of Seville, and that when General Sherbrooke arrived, 3000 should proceed to the same direction, and he should content himself with garrisoning Cadiz with 2000 men, and proceed with or forward the remainder of his own force to General Mackenzie. To this proposition the Junta had so nearly acceded, that the agreement was only broken off by their insisting that the public mind could not be reconciled to the admission of 2000 troops into Cadiz, and offering to admit half the number, a force which Mr. Frere judged altogether inadequate to a purpose for which his own government allotted four times that amount.
The conference, which was conducted on both sides with perfect moderation and temper, concluded with a fair avowal from the Junta, that they were convinced of the good faith of the British government, and of the advantage that would result to Spain from the admission of British troops into Cadiz, if that were to be the indispensable condition of their co-operation; but that their own existence as a government depended upon popular opinion; and the English ambassador could not be ignorant what numerous and active enemies were endeavouring to undermine them. The Junta of Seville, who gave themselves great credit for resisting the introduction of the English into Cadiz last year when the French were advanced as far as Ecija, were upon the watch now, and calling the attention of the people to the conduct of the Central Junta in the present instance. Mr. Frere made answer, that he could not of course expect his opinion should be submitted to upon a subject on which their existence as a government and their personal security (for such in fact was the case) were involved. But he advised them to consider whether the responsibility to which they exposed themselves in the other alternative was not equally dangerous, and whether their enemies would not be as ready and as able to make a handle of the rejection of British assistance as of its acceptance.
♦Mr. Frere requests Cuesta’s opinion.♦
Mr. Frere was aware that the uppermost feeling in the minds of some of the Junta was an apprehension of the resentment which Cuesta might entertain against them, convinced as that general must have been of their weakness by the manner of his appointment. Being desirous, therefore, of obtaining his opinion in favour of the measure which the British government proposed, or at least in such terms as would remove all fear of his declaring himself in opposition to it, he wrote to him, explaining what Great Britain was willing to do in aid of Spain, and what condition was required. That condition, he said, was to be considered as indispensable, not only in the opinion of government, but in that of the nation, the individuals of which did not at that moment consider Cadiz as sufficiently secure even for a place of disposal for their merchandize, so that they were daily soliciting permission to re-export it; and it might easily be judged whether the nation would risk its army upon an assurance which individuals did not consider sufficient for their woollen and cotton. Lisbon had twice been garrisoned by British troops, without the smallest inconvenience to the Portugueze government. Madeira had in like manner been garrisoned: the Portugueze knew us by long experience; they knew also the internal state of England; knew that the English government never entertained a thought of abusing the confidence of its allies; and the state of public opinion was such in England, that it could not do this, even though it wished it. Under the present circumstances, the political question came before General Cuesta, both as a commander and a patriot, who, as he must be interested in any thing that might appear to injure the honour and independence of his country, so also he could not regard with indifference any thing that might derange the military plans of his government, and perhaps its political relations, by repeated acts of mistrust and mutual displeasure. 4300 good British troops might at this time march to co-operate with him upon the frontier of Extremadura, they would be followed by 1500 more as soon as General Sherbrooke arrived, and the auxiliary army would be delayed no longer than was necessary to dispose of its wounded and prisoners, and to be re-equipped. The question therefore was, whether General Cuesta could dispense with the present reinforcement, and Spain with the aid of an auxiliary army; for these were the points to be decided by the resolution of admitting or sending back the British troops, such being the alternative in which those troops were placed by the orders under which they left Lisbon.
♦Cuesta’s reply.♦
Cuesta returned a reply in terms of proper respect, both for the British government and his own. He did not, he said, discover any difficulty which should prevent the British troops from garrisoning Cadiz; but he was far from supposing that the Central Junta could be without good ground for their objections, and that they should have objections was sufficient to prevent him from giving any opinion unless they consulted him. With regard to the 4300 men, there could be no doubt but that he stood in need of them; and he hoped that England would lend him much greater assistance, particularly if from any change of circumstances the Central Junta should no longer appear repugnant to the condition which the British government required. This reply did not alter the determination which Mr. Frere had made, of sending the troops back to Lisbon, considering Seville as comparatively safe, and conceiving that the principle which the English ministry had originally laid down, of not attaching small corps of British troops to a Spanish army, was one he should not be justified in departing from, for any object less important than the security of Cadiz or the capital. He communicated this determination to Don Martin de Garay, alleging that the information which he had lately received from Lisbon rendered such a measure necessary.
♦Close of the discussion.♦
Garay’s answer closed the discussion. It was meant to be at the same time conciliatory, and capable of being produced for the exculpation of the Junta. He represented, “that if any immediate attack upon Cadiz was to be feared, ... if the Spanish forces were incapable of defending that point, ... if there were no others of the greatest importance where the enemy might be opposed with advantage, the Junta would not fear to hurt the public feeling by admitting foreign troops into that fortress, because public feeling would then be actuated by the existing state of things. But no such emergency existed; the armies were strengthening themselves in points very distant from Cadiz; the enemy had much ground to pass, and many difficulties to conquer, before he could threaten it; time could never be wanted for falling back upon that fortress; it was easy to be defended, ... it was to be considered as a last point of retreat, and extreme points ought to be defended in advance, never in themselves, except in cases of extreme urgency. The army of Extremadura defended Andalusia on that side, those of the centre and La Carolina at the Sierra Morena; the enemy for some time past had not been able to make any progress; and there if superior forces could be collected against him, a decisive blow might be struck. Catalonia too was bravely defending itself, and Zaragoza still resisted the repeated attacks of an obstinate and persevering besieger. Either in Extremadura, or with the central army or in Catalonia, the assistance of Great Britain would be of infinite service. This was the opinion of the Junta; this was the opinion of the whole nation, and would doubtless be that of every one who contemplated the true state of things. If the auxiliary troops already in the bay, or on their passage, should disembark in the neighbourhood of Cadiz, and proceed to reinforce General Cuesta, they would always find a safe retreat in Cadiz in case of any reverse; but should a body of troops, already very small, leave part of its force in Cadiz, in order to secure a retreat at such a distance, the English ambassador himself must acknowledge that such assistance could inspire the Spaniards with very little confidence, particularly after the events in Galicia. But it appeared to Mr. Frere that the presence of these troops was necessary at Lisbon, and therefore he had given orders for their return. Of this measure the same might be said as of the proposed one for securing Cadiz. Lisbon was not the point where Portugal could be defended; the greatest possible number of troops ought to be employed in those advanced lines where the enemy was posted, and where he might be routed decisively. For all these reasons the Supreme Junta were persuaded, that if the British government should determine that its troops should not act in union with theirs, except on the expressed condition, this non-co-operation could never be imputed to them. The Junta must act in such a manner, that if it should be necessary to manifest to the nation, and to all Europe, the motives of their conduct, it might be done with that security, and with that foundation, that should conciliate to them the public opinion, which was the first and main spring of their power.”
Thus terminated the discussion concerning the admission of English troops into Cadiz. Mr. Frere warned the Junta of the ill consequences which must result to Spain, if it should appear that the efforts and offers which the King of England had made should have the effect of producing embarrassment to his government at home. It appears, indeed, as if both governments acted more with reference to their enemies at home, than from any real importance which they could attach to the point in dispute. With the Spanish government this was confessedly the case; they did not, and could not, possibly suspect the good faith of England: ... between Spain and England, the honourable character of one country was sufficient security for the other; but they stood equally in fear of a set of men who criticised all their measures with factious acrimony, because their own enthusiastic hopes of complete triumph and thorough reformation had not been fulfilled; and of Morla and the other traitors, whose aim was to excite suspicion of Great Britain. Under the influence of this feeling, they opposed a measure which they did not think otherwise objectionable, but which they opposed the more firmly because they did not perceive that it was necessary. The English ministry on their part wanted a point of defence against the opposition, who, as they omitted no means of wounding the pride and calumniating the character of the Spaniards, were continually saying that they did not desire our assistance, and that they had no confidence in us. It was against this party at home that Cadiz was wanted as a point of defence, ... not as a point of retreat upon a coast where we possessed Gibraltar, and where also we were sure of the disposition of the people in Cadiz itself, whatever might be the conduct of its governor. The governor at Coruña had failed in his duty, but still the embarkation of the English was protected by that fortress.
Mr. Frere concluded this unpleasant transaction according to his own judgement. He had the satisfaction of finding that the ministry perfectly accorded with him. They sent him Sir George Smith’s instructions, authorising him, if he thought proper, to communicate them to the Supreme Junta. They recalled Sir George, and assured the Junta that no such separate or secret commission, as they apprehended to have been given to him, ever had been, or ever would be, entrusted to any officer or other person; and that it never could be in the contemplation of the English government to select any other channel of communication than the King’s accredited minister, in a transaction of such importance, much less to engage in such a transaction without the entire consent and concurrence of the Spanish government. They dispatched orders after General Sherbrooke, directing him to proceed to Lisbon instead of Cadiz. Nevertheless, if at any time the Junta ♦Papers relating to Spain and Portugal, C.♦ should require a British force for the actual garrison of Cadiz, Mr. Frere was authorized to send to Lisbon for that purpose, and the commanding officer there was ordered to comply with his requisition.
♦Insurrection at Cadiz.♦
While this question was discussed at Seville, Cadiz itself became the scene of an insurrection, in which the popular feeling in favour of the English was unequivocally expressed. The people of that city were dissatisfied with the Central Junta; they complained that, instead of informing them of the true state of affairs, their government kept them in ignorance; and having been deceived by Morla, the slightest circumstance sufficed to make them suspect any one who had the means of betraying them. A corps of foreigners had been raised from the prisoners taken at Baylen; they consisted chiefly of Poles and Germans, who might have fought with a better will against Buonaparte than for him, but who were less to be relied on than deserters, because they had enlisted to escape confinement. This corps was ordered to do garrison duty at Cadiz; while the volunteers of that city and of Port St. Mary’s were drafted to other parts. But the people, thinking that if Cadiz wanted defenders, it could by none be so faithfully defended as by its own children, determined to oppose both measures, and on the morning of the 22d of February they broke out in insurrection. Their first act of violence was to seize a courier charged with dispatches from the Junta to the Marquis of Villel, a member of that body, and its representative in this important fortress. The Marquis had rendered himself suspected by setting persons at liberty who were confined for their supposed attachment to the French, and by imposing restrictions upon the public amusements. A report that he had committed women of respectable rank to the house of industry, and threatened others with the same scandalous punishment, excited indignation in the rabble; they seized and were dragging him to the public jail, where, if he had arrived alive, it is little probable that he could long have been protected from popular fury. But P. Moguer, a capuchin friar, persuaded them to commit him to the capuchin convent, and pledged himself to produce his person, that he might suffer condign punishment, if his treason should be proved.
Luckily the confidence of the people was possessed by the governor, Don Felix Jones, and in a still greater degree by the guardian of the Capuchins, Fr. Mariano de Sevilla. The former represented to General Mackenzie, that it would tend to re-establish tranquillity if an assurance were given that the English would take no part in the tumult; for they had been called upon to land and assist against the traitors. Accordingly the British General sent some officers who could speak the Spanish language, and they, in the presence of the governor and the principal capuchin friars, distinctly declared, that the British troops would by no means interfere in any thing relating to the internal concerns of the people, but that they were ready to assist in defending the town to the last extremity. This seemed for a time to allay their agitation. In the course of a few hours they again became tumultuous; still an opinion prevailed that they were betrayed, and that measures were arranged for delivering up Cadiz to the French. They called for the dismissal of those whom they suspected, and they required that two British officers should be appointed to inspect the fortifications, jointly with two Spanish officers, and to direct the preparations ♦Confidence of the people in the English.♦ for defence. General Mackenzie deputed two officers for that purpose; and all those of his staff accompanied the most active and popular of the friars to a balcony, from whence these orators harangued the people, assuring them of the co-operation of the British troops and the support of the British nation, and frequently appealing to the British officers to confirm by their own voices the pledges given in their name and in their presence. This satisfied the populace, and they dispersed with loud huzzas, in honour of King George and King Ferdinand.
♦Proclamation of the governor.♦
On the following morning the governor issued a proclamation, in which, considering the discontent which had been manifested, “and keeping in mind,” he said, “the loyalty of the inhabitants at all times, but particularly under the present circumstances, and the good and signal services which they had done, and daily were doing, he dismissed from office four persons whose discharge had been loudly demanded; and declared also, that if the people wished to have the Junta of Cadiz suppressed, their desire should be fulfilled. He assured them that no foreign troops should be admitted; but that officers of their faithful ally the British nation were invited to examine the posts and works of the city and its dependencies, and that every thing necessary for its defence should be concerted with them. He promised that the papers of the Marquis should be examined without delay; that there should be no longer any cause of complaint respecting the ignorance in which the people were kept of public affairs, for that whatever occurred should punctually and faithfully be made public; that the enlistment of the inhabitants for the provincial regiment of Ciudad Rodrigo should cease till further consideration; and that no part of the volunteers, the light troops, and companies of artillery should be ordered away.” Notwithstanding the popularity of Don Felix Jones, it was thought advisable that this proclamation should be countersigned by the guardian of the Capuchins.
♦Murder of D. J. de Heredia.♦
Still the tumult continued. Caraffa, who had been second in command of the Spanish troops in Portugal, was confined in the Castle of Catalina, under a charge of misconduct or treachery, with the viceroy of Mexico and other prisoners, who had been sent home from New Spain. The mob proceeded thither, and demanded the prisoners, that they might put them to death. Colonel Roche, who had just arrived from Seville with another English officer, interposed, addressed the people, and succeeded in dissuading them from their purpose. But shortly afterwards they fell in with Don Joseph de Heredia, a particular object of their suspicion, who that very day had at their demand been dismissed from his office of collector of the public rents. He was stepping into a boat to make his escape to Port St. Mary’s: the attempt cost him his life, and he was murdered upon ♦The tumult subsides.♦ the spot. The popular fury seemed now to have spent itself, and the clergy and friars, who throughout the whole insurrection had exerted themselves to pacify the people, and protect the threatened victims, succeeded in restoring peace. To have attempted to quell the mob by force would have occasioned great bloodshed, for they had got possession of arms and of the park of artillery.
♦Proclamation of the Central Junta.♦
Fifty of the rabble, who had been most conspicuous for violence, were seized by the volunteers of Cadiz, and imprisoned. The Central Junta addressed a proclamation to the people of that city, reprehending them with dignified severity for their conduct. “It was absurd,” they said, “to apprehend danger in so populous and so brave a city from a single battalion of foreigners, even if there could be any reason to doubt the fidelity of Poles and Germans, who had been forcibly dragged into Spain, and were in every quarter deserting from the flag under which they had been compelled to march. As little reason was there for their suspicion of the Marquis. His papers were now before the Junta, and nothing was expressed in them but zeal for the country, and diligence to promote all means for the security of Cadiz. Let the state of those means before his arrival be compared with the works projected and executed since. And had the people no other way of manifesting their disapprobation than by tumult? No one came to the Junta to complain of the Marquis’s conduct; no one informed them that their commissioner at Cadiz had lost the confidence of the people. Some anonymous letters only had reached the government, some on one side, some on the other, but all contemptible in the eye of equity. But what was the course which would have become the open and generous character of the Spaniards? To have made their complaint frankly and nobly, and the government would have done them justice.”
The Junta then warned them to beware of the insidious arts of the enemy. “It is not,” said they, “the traitors who fled with the French and returned with them who do most injury to their country; but it is the obscure agitators, hired by them or by the tyrant, who abuse the confidence and mislead the patriotism of the people. It is they who, disseminating distrust and suspicion, lead you through crooked and guilty paths to the precipice, and to subjugation; it is they who convert loyalty into rage, and zeal into sedition. The Junta have proofs enough of these infernal machinations in the intelligence which they receive every day, and in the correspondence which they intercept.” But, notwithstanding the government declared its persuasion of Villel’s innocence, it was not thought proper completely to exculpate him without such farther inquiry as might satisfy the people: this proclamation, therefore, announced that a commission would be appointed to examine his conduct, and that it would not be composed of members of the Central Junta, in order to avoid all shadow of partiality in an affair so serious. “Any person,” said the Junta, “shall be heard who desires to accuse him, and the sentence will be adjudged according to law. He himself demands in justice that this may be done; his honour, the estimation of the government, and the public satisfaction, necessarily prescribe it. If the Marquis be culpable, he shall be punished in proportion to his abuse of the high functions and national confidence which he has enjoyed; but if he be declared innocent, it is necessary that the reparation made to his good name be as solemn and public as the aggression was cruel and scandalous.” These proceedings satisfied the people, of whom the better sort were grieved at the excesses which had been committed; and their suspicions against the Marquis were in some degree removed when Don Felix Jones, to whom his papers were delivered, declared that no indication of treason was to be discovered in them.
CHAPTER XVIII.
SECOND SIEGE OF ZARAGOZA.
♦1808.
December.♦
The Central Junta perfectly understood and truly represented the spirit of the nation, partaking in some things its blindness and its obstinacy, but also its exalted feeling, its true heroism, and its incomparable devotion to the cause of national independence. Its information concerning the real state of affairs was as imperfect as its other arrangements. In the correspondence concerning Cadiz, Garay assured the British Ambassador that Zaragoza was still holding out, not considering that by little less than miracle that glorious city could have held out so long, and not knowing that the enemy had then been eight days in possession of its ruins.
♦Castaños accused at Zaragoza as a traitor.♦
Palafox was not present at the battle of Tudela. He had embarked on the river just before the action began, little apprehending that it was so near, and believing that his presence was required at Zaragoza. This was one cause among the many which led to the misfortunes of that day; for Castaños, who would otherwise have been with his own troops, remained with ♦Representaciones, &c. del G. Castaños, p. 195.♦ the Aragonese to supply his place, and each army was thus deprived of the General who knew the troops, and in whom they trusted. During the short time that these Generals had acted together, there had been no want of confidence and frankness between them: but after their separation, and the refusal of Castaños to throw his troops into Zaragoza instead of retreating toward Madrid, in obedience to the orders of the Central Junta, the disasters which had been sustained were imputed by Palafox to his errors. He had been far from apprehending, he said, that he should have to prepare for a second siege; and never could any combination of his own have placed him under such a necessity. The charge of incapacity against Castaños was more broadly made in an official account of the action by General O’Neille, and he was publicly accused of having sold the army and betrayed his country.
♦State of public feeling in that city.♦
Castaños himself did Palafox the justice to believe that he had been deceived by malicious representations. The other charges proceeded from men who sought to shelter their own misconduct by appearing as accusers, or from private malice, which in such times never loses the opportunity of exerting itself with sure effect. Zaragoza was in a state of tremendous agitation; the same spirit was still prevailing there which had so wonderfully repulsed the French, but that spirit had broken the bonds of order; and Palafox, who was so well able to direct the popular feeling in the hour of danger, found it necessary at other times in many things to yield to it. His power was absolute while he held it; but though it had been confirmed to him by the Supreme Junta, it was in fact held only by the tenure of popular opinion, which among large masses of men, and more especially in perilous circumstances, is always influenced less by the considerate and the wise, than by the headstrong, the audacious, and the profligate. Victims whom ♦Cavallero, p. 67.♦ he dared not interfere to save were sacrificed, and the utmost he could do in behalf of any accused persons, was to secure them in prison, and ♦Measures of precaution.♦ thus respite them from immediate death. During the former siege the French who resided in the city had been put under arrest; and there had been the twofold anxiety of guarding against any correspondence between them and the besiegers, and protecting them against the fatal effects of popular suspicion, which at any moment might have produced a massacre of these unfortunate persons. To prevent both the inconvenience and the danger, Palafox sent them away to distant places of confinement; but it was necessary to prepare the people for this by a proclamation, appealing to their honour, and courage, and humanity, and cautioning them against the enemy’s emissaries, who were seeking to bring a stain upon their cause by exciting them to acts of murder. The prisoners and deserters were also removed. The nuns were permitted to remove to other convents not within the scene of immediate danger, where they might occupy themselves without interruption in their holy exercises. Aware that in so large a city there must be persons whom their own wealth would have bribed to betray their country, and who would fain have submitted for the sake of preserving their property, Palafox decreed that the inhabitants of Zaragoza, of whatever rank or condition, should consider themselves bound to devote their persons, their property, and their lives to its defence; that the rich should foster, and assist, and clothe the poor, enable them to maintain their respective posts, and remunerate them for the zeal with which they defended their lives, their estates, and their common country. If any man were unnatural enough to disregard this sacred duty, which he owed both to his native land and his religion, he should be fined in proportion to the magnitude of his offence, and the amount of the fine appropriated to the subsistence of the army. All persons who served the cause of the enemy, by pasquinades, by endeavouring to excite a want of confidence in the chiefs, the people, or the army, or by raising disturbances and riots, should be carried before the newly-appointed judge of the police, who would pass judgment according to their crimes, and suitable to the danger of the country; but before he imposed the punishment of death, he should consult the captain-general. Every house was ordered to be well supplied with vessels of water, in order to extinguish fires; and the officers of the ward were charged to superintend this important measure of preparation. Persons entering or leaving the city were to be watched with care, because the enemy assumed the dress of the Spaniards, and, greatly superior as they were, resorted to every artifice. “All these measures,” said Palafox, “should be obeyed with religious respect, because they are all directed to the good of our country, which, in happier times, will recompense all the sacrifices we make, ... sacrifices so acceptable in the sight of God, and of the Virgin Mother of God, who is our celestial protectress.”
♦None of the inhabitants leave the city.♦
Three days were allowed for all women, all men above threescore, and all boys under fourteen, to leave the city; a general order being issued, that whithersoever they might go, they should be welcomed, and provided for. But not one of the inhabitants left the place. The sentiment of patriotism was as ardent in the women as in the men; they thought it a worse evil to seek bread and protection apart from their husbands and fathers than to abide the siege with them, and triumph or perish together: and even if this sentiment had not been so general and so strong, whither were they to betake themselves for security in a land which was every where overrun or threatened by the enemy’s armies? In no place would they have imagined themselves so secure as in Zaragoza itself, which had been so wonderfully defended and delivered, and which they believed to be invincible through the protection of Our Lady of the Pillar, who had chosen it for the seat of her peculiar worship. During the former siege prints of that idol had been distributed by women in the heat of action, and worn by the men in their hats both as a badge and an amulet. The many remarkable escapes and deliverances which had occurred ♦Supposed miracles.♦ were ascribed not to all-ruling and omnipresent Providence, but to the immediate interference ♦Memoria de lo mas Interesante, &c. 121.♦ of the Magna Mater of Zaragoza. Palafox himself had been trained up with more than common care in the superstition of the place; he and his brethren in their childhood had been taken every day to attend mass in the Holy Chapel where the image was enshrined, dressed at such times in the proper costume of the Infantes, as a mark of greater honour to the present Goddess. An appearance in the sky, which at other times might have passed unremembered and perhaps unnoticed, had given strong confirmation to the popular faith. About a month before the commencement of the first siege a white cloud appeared at noon, and gradually assumed the form of a palm tree; the sky being in all other parts clear, except that a few specks of fleecy cloud hovered about the larger one. It was first observed over the church of N. Señora del Portillo, and moving from thence till it seemed to be immediately above that of the Pillar, continued in the same form about half an hour, and then dispersed. The inhabitants were in a state of such excitement, that crowds joined in the acclamation of the first beholder, who cried out, A miracle! and after the ♦1808.♦ defeat of the besiegers had confirmed the omen, a miracle it was universally pronounced to have been, the people proclaiming with exultation that ♦Do. 11.♦ the Virgin had by this token prefigured the victory she had given them, and promised Zaragoza her protection as long as the world should endure.
♦Works of defence.♦
In many recorded instances superstition such as this has deluded men to their destruction. But the Zaragozans knew that to obtain the divine support, wherein they trusted, they must deserve it by works as well as faith, and that the manner in which heavenly aid would be manifested would be by blessing their human exertions. Palafox himself, confidently as he had expected that the army which he commanded would be successful in the field, had not been negligent in preparing to withstand a second siege. Works of considerable extent and importance had been designed, and executed as far as time and means permitted. It was impossible to convert so large a city into a good fortified place, accessible as it was on all sides, and every where commanded within reach of cannon; but with a population so resolute in defending themselves, every thing became of consequence which could impede the enemy. The houses within 700 toises of the place were demolished, and their materials employed in the fortifications; and the numerous and valuable plantations of olive trees within the same distance were cut down: there was reason to regret that this precaution had not been carried farther. During the autumn the works had not been prosecuted with vigour, because all men of a certain age were required for military service, and those who might have been disposable for such employment were busied in the vintage, or in gathering hemp. Moreover volunteers did not offer themselves for this labour, while the danger appeared remote; and when there were so many demands upon the treasury, the expense of wages could ill be defrayed. It so happened that no mischief resulted from this dangerous economy: after the battle of Tudela there were hands enough at the General’s disposal; and the French allowed time for completing all that had been intended, while they were collecting means and materials for a siege, the difficulties of which they had been taught how to estimate. The works were directed by the Commander of the Engineers, Colonel San Genis; and what was defective in them was imputable not to any want of science, but to the difficulty of fortifying the whole circuit of a great city. The Aljafaria, which had been the palace of the Moorish kings, then of the kings of Aragon, and was now called the Castle of the Inquisition, because it contained the prisons of that accursed tribunal, had been converted into a fortress by Philip V., and was now repaired and strengthened. It was a square, with four tower-bastions, surrounded by a good ditch, and communicating with the city by a double caponiere. From thence to the bridge over the Guerva the place was protected by a long line of wall and batteries; two Capuchin convents which came into the line were fortified, and served to flank it. A ditch was carried from one of these to the bridge, and the bridge itself secured by a tête-de-pont. A double retrenchment extended from thence to the memorable Convent of St. Engracia, which was made a sort of citadel; and from that Convent to the Ebro the old wall had been strengthened; this part of the city being covered also by the bed of the Guerva, and by the Convent of St. Joseph on the farther bank of that river, which had been well fortified, and was the most salient point of the whole circle, serving as a strong tête-de-pont to protect the besieged when they sallied in the direction of Valencia. The suburb beyond the Ebro was defended by redoubts and fleches, with batteries and traverses at the entrance of the streets. The artillery amounted to 160 pieces, the greater part being four, eight, and twelve pounders: what pieces there were of larger calibre had mostly been recovered from the canal into which the French had thrown them on their retreat. Great part of the cannon balls also were what the French had fired or left behind them. To prevent all danger from the explosion of their magazines, it was determined not to prepare a stock of gunpowder, but to make it day by day as it should be wanted; and this could easily be done, because Zaragoza was the place where all the saltpetre of Aragon was refined. There was no want of musquets, either for the inhabitants or the troops and peasantry with whom the city was crowded. The stores contained corn, wine, brandy, oil, salt-fish, and pulse, sufficient for six months’ ♦Cavallero, 74–80. Rogniat, 4–6.♦ consumption for 15,000 men; this ought to have been the amount of the garrison; but fatal circumstances, and the more fatal error of supposing that the means of defence would be in proportion to the number of the defenders, had ♦The city crowded with soldiers.♦ doubled it. Palafox would have had the central army, as well as his own troops, take refuge there after the battle of Tudela. Castaños indeed led away the wreck of that army in a different direction; but there were other persons in authority who, not having the same foresight, thought the best means of succouring Zaragoza was by increasing its garrison. The Central Junta fell into this error, and ordered the Valencian government to send thither all the force it could raise, which was not absolutely required for its own safety. A Walloon battalion, which had served during the former siege, was sent from Tarragona. A proclamation was issued from Zaragoza, inviting the dispersed soldiers to repair thither, and fill up the places of their brethren who had fallen in that holy cause, and were already in glory, enjoying their reward. By these means not less than 30,000 regular troops were collected there; as many as 15,000 peasants entered the city to share in the dangers and merit of its defence; and the hospitals were ♦Cavallero, 82.♦ filled with the sick and wounded from Tudela, who had all been removed hither as the place to which they could most easily be conveyed.
♦Preparations within the city.♦
Except in the great and fatal error of thus crowding the city with men, the means of defence were wisely provided. That the enemy would effect an entrance was not doubted; traverses therefore were made in the streets which were near the wall, the doors and the windows of the ground-floor were walled up, communications opened within from house to house, and the house-tops parapeted to secure the defendants. Every householder, providing for life as well as death, laid in ample supplies. The convents were well stored. In the general fervour of national feeling men were as liberal of their means as of their lives. Nor was this feeling confined to those who could gratify it by taking an active part in military service, and by the expectation or the enjoyment of vengeance: among instances of a rarer heroism that of a physician may be noticed, Miguel Guillen by name, who came from Valencia, and, refusing all pay, devoted himself to the service of the hospitals.
♦M. Moncey reconnoitres the Torrero.♦
Marshal Moncey, on whom the odious service of besieging Zaragoza had been imposed, fixed his head-quarters at Alagon, while he waited for reinforcements, and preparations were making to commence it. At the end of November he reconnoitred the Torrero, a point which it was ♦1808.
December.♦ necessary to occupy before he could begin the siege; some warm skirmishes ensued, which tended to encourage the Spaniards, because the enemy, when they had well examined the ground, returned to Alagon. The importance of the Torrero seems not to have been duly appreciated by the Zaragozans; they contented themselves with throwing up some slight works there, faced with unburnt bricks. Moncey had with him 17,000 men, and was joined by Mortier with 14,000 in the middle of December. Meantime a battering train of sixty pieces was brought from Pamplona; projectiles also were supplied from the same arsenal; the country was compelled to furnish means of transport as far as Tudela, and there they were embarked upon the canal. ♦The French appear before the city.♦ All being ready, they appeared before Zaragoza on the 20th. Gazan’s division crossing the Ebro at Tauste marched to Zuera and Villa Nueva; Suchet’s took a position upon the right bank of the river, within a league of the city; and Moncey, following the right bank of the canal, placed one of his divisions on the left of the ♦Rogniat, 3.♦ Guerva, opposite the great sluice, the two others on the right.
♦They take the Torrero.♦
Buonaparte had declared that bombs and mines should bring Zaragoza to reason; and in the spirit of that declaration had prepared the fullest means for overpowering moral resistance by military force. Skilled as he was in the art of war, he did not, like a Mahommedan conqueror, reckon upon numbers for success: to have employed a larger army (even if the Austrian war had not occurred) would have been wasting men here who might be more serviceably employed in other quarters; there was the difficulty of feeding them, and no danger could be apprehended from any efforts which might be made to raise the siege; but the number of engineers was unusually large, and the means of destruction were in proportion. General Lacoste commanded this department; he was perfect master of his profession, and having served with Buonaparte in Egypt, had acquired at the siege of Cairo some knowledge of the kind of difficulties with which he had now to contend. During the night the enemy erected a battery which commanded the Torrero, and was opened upon it at daybreak: a false attack was made upon that post in front, where the canal covered it; meantime another brigade, which under cover of the olive-yard of St. Joseph had got possession of an aqueduct the preceding evening, passed the canal under that aqueduct, and moved rapidly up the left bank with the intention of interposing between the city and the point of attack. The Spaniards were thrown into confusion by the explosion of an ammunition-cart; and the exertions of a very able officer, and the example of a few steady corps, were not able to restore order or confidence. But, considering the distance of the Torrero from the city, they had expected to lose it, and prepared accordingly; so that by blowing up the Puente de America they prevented the cavalry from pursuit, and retreated in good order. The officer who had drawn off his men from this position during the former siege had been put to ♦See vol. ii. p. 12.♦ death with circumstances of great cruelty. It ♦Sebastian Hernandez, 3–5.♦ was fortunate for San Marc, the general of the Valencian troops, who now commanded there, ♦Rogniat, 6. Cavallero, 89.♦ that Palafox knew how to appreciate his excellent talents and distinguished worth. For being a Frenchman, he was peculiarly obnoxious to suspicion; and if he had fallen a victim to popular jealousy, the Zaragozans would have lost the ablest military man employed in their defence.
♦Unsuccessful attack upon the suburbs.♦
Meantime Gazan’s division moved from Zuera and Villa Nueva, drove back a corps of Swiss, who were posted on the road to Villa Mayor, dislodged them with the loss of some 300 from the Torre del Arzobispo, and attempted to enter the suburbs by a coup-de-main. This was in conformity to Lacoste’s opinion. Its success would materially have facilitated the progress of the besiegers, who might then have established breaching batteries upon the left bank of the Ebro, and opened a way into the city by demolishing the line of houses on the quay. D. Josef Manso, of the royal guards, commanded on that side; and after a severe action, repulsed the enemy: they renewed the attack with their reserve, and the Spaniards gave way. Palafox, who saw from a window what was passing, hurried across the bridge, cut down some of the runaways, and by his voice and example changed the fate of the day. Time had been gained for San Marc to arrive there with the troops who had retired from the Torrero, ♦Rogniat, 7.
Cavallero, 90, 1.♦ and the enemy were repelled with a loss which they stated at 400 men, and the Spaniards at 4000.
♦Moncey summons Palafox to surrender.♦
On the following day Moncey, who had fixed his head-quarters at the Torrero, addressed a letter to Palafox and the magistrates of Zaragoza, warning them that the city was now besieged on all sides, and all its communications cut off, and that he might now employ against it every means of destruction which the laws of war allowed. Madrid, he said, had capitulated, and thereby saved itself from the miseries which a longer resistance must have drawn on. Zaragoza, however she might confide in the courage of her inhabitants, could not possibly succeed against the means which were now brought against her, and her total destruction must be inevitable if she caused those means to be employed. He called upon them to spare the effusion of blood, and save so fine and so estimable a city, and to inspire the people with peaceful sentiments, as the way to deserve their love and gratitude. On his part, he promised them every thing compatible with his feelings, his duty, and the power which the Emperor had given him. Marshal Moncey was an upright and honourable man, unstained by any of the revolutionary crimes; what his feelings were may therefore well be supposed. Gladly would he have induced the Zaragozans to submit, that he might have saved himself from the enormous guilt of destroying the city and its inhabitants for resisting what he and every man in the French army who acknowledged the difference between right and wrong, felt in their hearts to be an insolent and iniquitous usurpation. Palafox replied to the summons, and told him it was in vain to think of appalling men by the horrors of a siege, who had endured one, and who knew how to die. If Madrid had capitulated (which he could not believe), it had been sold: and what then? Madrid was but a single place, and there was no reason why Zaragoza should yield, when there were 60,000 men determined to defend it. The Marshal had tried them yesterday, and his troops had left at the gates witnesses enough of that determination. It might be more fitting for him to assume a lofty tone, and talk to the Marshal of capitulating, if he would not lose his army before the town. The spirit of eleven million Spaniards ♦Cavallero, 92.
Sebastian Hernandez, 6, 7.♦ was not to be extinguished by oppression; and they who had resolved to be free, were so. As for the blood which Marshal Moncey was desirous of sparing, it was as glorious for the Spaniards to lose it in such a cause, as it was ignominious for the French to be the instruments of shedding it.
♦The investment of the city completed.♦
During that and the ensuing day General Gazan completed the investment of the suburb. One of his brigades extended on the right of the Zuera road, the other on the left, with two battalions at the bridge over the Galego on the road to Valencia. The swampy nature of the ground, upon which the inhabitants relied in some degree for their protection on that side, was favourable to the besiegers also, for it enabled them to form inundations along the greater part of their line, which secured them against any sorties. On the right bank Suchet’s division, forming the left of the besieging army, extended from the Ebro to the valley of the Huerba; that valley was occupied by Morlot’s; Meusnier’s was encamped on the heights of the ♦Rogniat, 7.♦ Torrero; and Grandjean’s extended from thence to the Ebro on the other end of the bow, where a bridge of boats was laid, to establish their communication with the troops on the side of the suburb. It was determined to make three attacks; one upon the Castle of the Inquisition, with the view of employing the garrison on that side, which was their strongest part; one upon the bridge over the Huerba, where the name of that Pillar which was regarded as the palladium of the city had been given to the redoubt; and the third upon S. Joseph’s: this was the immediate object of the enemy; they deemed it the weakest point, and thought to connect their attack against it with an attempt upon the suburb, where Lacoste still hoped that the French might establish themselves. The weather was peculiarly favourable to their operations, being at once mild and dry; the nights were long and dark, and every morning a thick fog effectually covered them from the fire of the besieged, who could never see where to point their guns till it ♦Cavallero, 95.♦ was near mid-day. Meantime they were not idle; a line of counter-approaches was commenced which compelled the enemy to prolong their works, lest they should be enfiladed; sallies were made from S. Joseph’s to interrupt them, and to cut down the olive-trees and destroy the buildings which afforded them cover; and on the last day of the year the Spaniards made a general attempt along the whole line. ♦Cavallero, 94.
Rogniat, 9.♦ It was every where repulsed; but Palafox, who knew of what importance it was to excite a spirit of emulation in the troops, ordered those who had distinguished themselves by some partial success to wear a red riband as a badge of honour on the breast. He addressed a proclamation ♦Proclamation of Palafox to the people of Madrid.♦ also to the people of Madrid. The dogs by whom he was beset, he said, scarcely left him time to clean his sword from their blood, but they still found their grave at Zaragoza. The defenders of that city might be destroyed, but compelled to surrender they could not be: and he promised that, so soon as he was at liberty, he would hasten to the deliverance of Madrid. All Palafox’s proclamations were in the same spirit; his language had the high tone, and something of the inflation of Spanish romance, suiting the character of those to whom it was directed.
♦1809.
January.
At the beginning of the year Mortier received orders to move upon Calatayud with Suchet’s division. It was thought that they would be more serviceably employed in keeping that part of Aragon in awe, than in forwarding the operations of the siege. The position which they left was filled up by extending Morlot’s division, and securing its front by three redoubts. Moncey and Mortier, holding independent commands, appear to have been mutually jealous of each other; and Gazan, conceiving that his orders required him only to cover the siege, refused to make any farther attempt upon the suburb, after the severe repulse which he had sustained, strongly as the commandant of the engineers advised a second attack. The arrival of Junot to take the command did not put an end to this disunion: there were indeed plain indications, that if Buonaparte had died at this time, his generals, like Alexander’s, would have made some atonement to mankind by taking vengeance upon each other. The works, however, went on, under a heavy fire; and on the 10th eight batteries were opened against St. Joseph and the redoubt of the Pillar. Colonel Mariano de Renovales commanded the former post, a man who made himself conspicuous throughout the whole course of the war by his activity and enterprising courage. An old brick convent, ♦St. Joseph’s and the redoubt of the Pillar taken.♦ and works faced with unburnt bricks, were soon demolished; and in the night it was found necessary to remove the heavy artillery into the town, as it could no longer be used. A brave sally was made at midnight against one of the batteries; but the adventurers were taken in flank by two guns placed at the right of the second parallel, and being exposed to a murderous fire in front, retreated with considerable loss. The next day, the convent being in ruins, and the breach practicable, an assault was made in the evening; at the same time a party of the enemy, turning the convent, effected an entrance by a bridge which the besieged had neglected to remove, and obtained possession of the ruins. The French employed three days in repairing the works and connecting them with their second parallel. It had been an easy but an important conquest; for they were now secured against the garrison on that side by the river, and by an escarp eight feet high. On the 15th they attacked the redoubt ... it was defended by the second regiment of Aragonese volunteers, and it was not till the works were reduced to ruins, and the flower of that regiment ♦Rogniat, 11, 14.
Cavallero, 96.♦ had perished, that the survivors retreated into the city, and blew up the bridge. A second parallel was then opened against the town, which had now no longer any defence on this side but its feeble wall and the houses themselves.
♦Rumours of success, and rejoicings in the city.♦
Meantime a tremendous bombardment was kept up upon this devoted city. The enthusiasm of the inhabitants was not abated by the loss of their outworks: from the beginning they knew that this contest must come to the knife’s point, and the event of the former siege made them look with full hope for a similar deliverance. They were encouraged also by false rumours which arrived announcing a victory over Buonaparte by the combined armies of Romana and Sir John Moore. Palafox immediately announced it in an extraordinary gazette; it was just as night closed; the people crowded into the streets and squares, the bands of all the regiments were collected, bells were rung, salutes fired, and the multitude with shouts and acclamations of joy went in tumultuous procession to the Church of the Pillar, to return thanksgiving, and join in the hymn of Salve Regina. The besiegers heard the music and the uproar, and ascribed to the artifices of Palafox and the other leaders what was in fact the genuine impulse ♦Rogniat, 15.
Seb. Hernandez, 13.♦ of public feeling. By good fortune the bombardment was suspended at the time, but in the course of the night more than six hundred shells were thrown into the city.
♦An infectious disease appears in the city.♦
The worst evil arising from the bombardment was one which had not been anticipated from that cause, and against which, had it been foreseen, it would hardly have been possible to provide. A great number of the inhabitants retired into cellars, the women especially retreated there with their children, for security from the shells. In these long low vaults, where wine and oil had formerly been kept, they were crowded together day and night, where it was necessary to burn lamps during the day, and where fresh air entered as scantily as daylight. Such places soon became hot-beds of infection, and other causes contributed to extend the calamity. On the first day of the siege, when the attack was made upon the suburbs, part of the troops, exhausted by the previous exertions, were under arms for some hours in the Cozo, exposed first to a heavy snow, and then to a severe frost: this produced a catarrh, which proved infectious, and was soon followed by all the dreadful symptoms of camp contagion. The number of soldiers and of countrymen would at any time have crowded the city, but more especially now, when the inhabitants of all those houses which were prepared and blockaded for street warfare were compelled to seek quarters in the inner parts of the town. The Murcian and Valencian troops came from a country where great part of their food consisted in fresh or preserved fruits; the mere change of diet from such aliment to garrison stores was sufficient to produce disease. They had also been used to drink well water: change of water is a cause of illness as frequent as it is unsuspected; and that of the Ebro, though it is preferred by the Aragonese to any other, is thought unwholesome for those who are not accustomed to it. To these causes must be added scantiness of food (an evil consequent upon the fatal error of crowding the place with men), unusual exertions, and the impossibility of recruiting exhausted strength by needful sleep in a city which was now bombarded without intermission; and among that part of the population who were not immediately engaged in the defence, fear, anxiety, and perpetual agitation of mind, predisposing the body for endemic disease.
♦Attempts of Lazan and Francisco Palafox to succour the city.♦
Every rumour of success, however preposterous in its circumstances, and incredible in itself, was readily believed by the Zaragozans; they were too ill-informed to judge of probabilities, or to understand the real condition of their country; but this they knew, that if in other parts the Spaniards did their duty as devoutly as they themselves were discharging it, the deliverance of Zaragoza and the triumph of Spain were certain. They were always in hope that some vigorous effort would be made for their relief; and, to accelerate this, D. Francisco Palafox left the city, embarked at night in a little boat, and descending the Ebro and getting to Alcañiz, began to organize the peasantry, who lost no opportunity of harassing the enemy’s communications. His situation, like that of the Marquez de Lazan, was truly pitiable; not only their brother, but their wives and families, were in Zaragoza, ... to them more than to any other individuals the inhabitants looked for succour, from the same hereditary feeling which had made them at the beginning of their troubles turn as it were naturally to the house of Palafox for a leader. But both were ordinary men, unequal to the emergency in every thing except in good-will. General Doyle was in Catalonia; he had passed through Zaragoza on his way to that province, had commanded the Spanish cavalry in a spirited and successful affair at Olite a few days before the battle of Tudela, and as a complimentary memorial of that service, Palafox had formed a legion, and named it after him. From him also, as an Englishman, the Zaragozans expected aid, and if zeal and activity could have supplied the place of adequate means, their expectations would not have been disappointed. He had been indefatigable in his exertions for storing the city before the French encamped around it: he succeeded by repeated representations to the local and provincial Juntas in making them put Mequinenza in a state of defence, ... an old town with a castle which commanded the navigation of the Ebro, about half way between Zaragoza and its mouth; and he was now endeavouring to make Reding attempt something in aid of the besieged city.
♦Condition of the army in Catalonia.♦
St. Cyr had not known how to improve a victory so well as the Spaniards did how to remedy a defeat. As soon as the fugitives from Molins de Rey brought the first tidings of their rout to Tarragona, the populace, supposing themselves to be betrayed, rose tumultuously, and took the power into their own hands. They blocked up the gates, unpaved the streets, and removed the stones to the windows and varandas, that they might be ready for a civic defence. They got possession of the arsenal, and distributed the arms and ammunition; they moved the artillery from one place to another, at the will of any one who fancied himself qualified to give orders; and they called out for the head of Vives, as the traitor who had been the cause of all their misfortunes. In this imminent danger Vives made a formal resignation of the ♦Reding takes the command.♦ command, and Reding, upon whom it devolved, was enabled to save his life by letting him be put in confinement. The superior Junta, apprehensive alike of the populace and of a siege or an immediate assault, got out of the city as soon as they could (for the people had forbidden any person to leave it), and fixed themselves at Tortosa, leaving, however, two of their members to represent them in the Junta of that district. If while this insubordination prevailed the French had attempted to carry the place by a coup-de-main, they might probably have succeeded; but St. Cyr was not so well acquainted with the inability of the Spaniards as with the difficulties of his own position. A few days after the battle a strong detachment of French appeared before the city; the generale was beaten, the somaten was sounded from the Cathedral, one of the forts fired, and the place was in the utmost confusion, when a flag of truce arrived, with a request that an aid-de-camp of M. St. Cyr might be allowed to confer with General Vives. Reding, to whom the letter was delivered, suspected that the real intent must be to discover the state of the place; he communicated it to the Junta, and two of their members, with two officers, were sent out to know the purport of the mission. It was not without difficulty that these persons could get out of the gate, so fearful were the people of being betrayed; the general opinion was, that the French had sent to summon the town, and the universal cry was, that they would not capitulate, they would listen to no such proposals, they would die for their king, their religion, and their country. It proved, however, that the aid-de-camp came only to propose an exchange of prisoners. The impolicy of agreeing to this was obvious; but Reding knew how ill the prisoners on both sides were treated, and thought it due to humanity to exchange them. The advantage was wholly on the enemy’s side; they received disciplined soldiers, who had now been many months in the country, and had had opportunities since their capture of observing the state of the Spaniards, and even learning their intentions, for every thing like secrecy seemed to be despised; and they gave in return ♦Cabañes, p. iii. c. 13.♦ only men of the new levies, not exchanging a single dragoon or artilleryman, nor one of the Swiss troops.
♦The army re-formed in Tarragona.♦
Reding was fully sensible how injurious it was that the enemy should thus be enabled to fill up their ranks; he suffered it, however, for the sake of mitigating the evils of a war in which he considered success absolutely hopeless. From the same hopelessness he committed the greater error of suffering himself to be surrounded by persons, some of whom were suspected by the superior Junta, and others by himself: but with this there was a generous feeling mingled; he would not, because they were unpopular, cease to employ men of whom he had a good opinion, nor would he upon a strong suspicion of guilt dismiss others as if they were guilty. His despondency was rooted in the constitution of his mind, but it did not make him omit any efforts for enabling the army again to take the field; and it was one happy part of the Spanish character, that no defeat, however complete and disgraceful, produced any effect in dispiriting the nation. The very men who, taking panic in battle, threw down their arms and fled, believed they had done their country good service by saving themselves for an opportunity of better fortune; and as soon as they found themselves in safety, were ready to be enrolled and take their chance again. Such of the runaways as had reached the Ebro, when they could get no farther, turned back, and came in troops to Tarragona. They came in pitiable condition, and without arms: ... Reding knew not where to look but to the English for money and muskets, and a failure of powder also was apprehended, the materials having hitherto been supplied from Zaragoza. It would have been madness to have attempted punishing any of these fugitives; the better mode of impressing upon them a sense of military duty was to let them see that their superiors could not behave ill with impunity: Reding therefore degraded one colonel and several inferior officers for their conduct at Molins de Rey, and made them serve in the ranks; but by posting them in advanced parties gave them an opportunity of retrieving their character and their rank. The government never acted with so much energy as when it was refitting an army after a defeat: its efforts were then such as the danger required. Two regiments arrived from Granada, a Swiss one from Majorca; supplies were sent from Valencia; men came in from all quarters as the hopes of the people rose, and by the middle of January the force in Tarragona was not inferior to that which had been so shamefully dispersed at Granollers. The men recovered heart, and acquired confidence from frequent success in the desultory warfare wherein Reding practised them. But he himself continued[3] to despond; ♦Cabañes, p. iii. c. 13.♦ and, in sad anticipation of defeat, deferred acting, when activity and enterprise might have found or made opportunities for success.
♦Conduct of the French under St. Cyr.♦
It was their victories which made the French most sensible of the difference between this and the other wars wherein they had been engaged; ... the spoils of the field were the only fruits of success. These indeed had been of signal consequence in Catalonia; they had enabled St. Cyr to relieve Barcelona, to refit his troops, and to strengthen himself with a park of field-pieces. He had profited by the first panic to dislodge the Spaniards from the pass of Bruch, which they had twice so gloriously defended; his troops had entered Igualada after the success, and the dangerous impression which his ostentation of justice and his observance of the humanities of war were likely to produce upon the wealthier classes, was seen by the conduct of the inhabitants, who seemed to think it a matter of indifference whether their houses were occupied by the national troops or by the French. But the system upon which Buonaparte carried on this wicked war rendered it impossible for any general to persist in a course of honourable conduct. The army which he had ordered into Catalonia was left to provide for itself, in a province which had now been many months the seat of war, and which never even in peace produced half its own consumption of corn. It had also to store the places of Rosas, Figueras, and Barcelona; for no attempt was made to bring provisions from France by land ... (the pass indeed between Bellegarde and Figueras was so dangerous to the French, that they called it the Straits of Gibraltar); and it was seldom that a vessel could escape the vigilance of the British cruisers. Eleven victuallers intended for Barcelona were lying in the port of Caldaques under convoy of a cutter and a lugger, when Lord Cochrane landed his men, drove the French from the town, took their batteries, and captured the whole. St. Cyr, however humane by nature, however honourable by principle, was engaged in a service with which humanity and honour were incompatible: he could support his army by no other means than by plundering the inhabitants, and the Catalans were not a people who would endure patiently to be plundered. The difficulty was increased by the Moorish custom still retained in that part of Spain of preserving corn, not in barns or granaries, but in mattamores. In the towns these subterranean magazines were emptied before the French could enter; in the country they were so easily concealed, that, after long and wearying search, it was a rare fortune to discover one. And the Miquelets and Somatenes were so constantly on the alert, that frequently when the marauders had seized their booty they were deprived of it. In this sort of warfare their loss was generally greater than that of the natives, who on such occasions had them at vantage. How considerable ♦St. Cyr, 92–99.♦ it must have been may be in some degree estimated from the fact, that in the course of seven weeks St. Cyr’s foraging parties fired away not less than two million cartridges.
♦Orders to attempt the relief of Zaragoza.♦
But plainly as it would have been the policy of the Spaniards to confine themselves to the slow and sure method of weeding out their invaders, till they could bring their regular troops into a fit state for taking the field, the pressing danger of Zaragoza called for immediate efforts. Francisco Palafox, looking every where for that aid which was nowhere to be found, had gone to Cuenca, and proposing that Infantado should march the central army to his brother’s relief, had been present at a council where the proposal was discussed, and had seen with his own eyes how utterly incapable that army was of engaging in such an attempt, or even of attempting ♦Infantado, Manifiesto, 87.♦ such a march. Orders to undertake something for its relief had been dispatched from the Central Junta to the provinces of Valencia and Catalonia. The Valencians were offended with Palafox for having detained General St. Marc with a division of their army; no man contributed more by his military talents to the defence of the city than that general, but he and his men were now cooped up to die of pestilence, when they might have effectually served the Zaragozans in the field. Want of will therefore made the Valencians take only half measures, and these so tardily as to be of no avail. Neither did Reding manifest the feeling which he ought to have partaken upon this subject, partly because the sense of his own difficulties possessed him, and partly perhaps from a personal dislike to the Palafox family. One natural consequence of thus delaying succour in quarters where there was most ability was to produce premature and rash attempts on the part of those who felt more generously. Palafox ♦Tardiness in obeying them.♦ had written to say, that as long as provisions lasted, and there were ruins to shelter them, Zaragoza would not surrender. The place chosen for a depot was Mequinenza, and there, chiefly by the exertions of General Doyle, stores in considerable quantity were collected; but impatient of waiting, when time was so precious, till a well-concerted attempt to introduce supplies could be made, a Colonel who had ♦Defeat of the peasantry.♦ several thousand peasants under his command moved to Belchite, within five leagues of Zaragoza, with a convoy under protection of this force, which was as unmanageable in a body, as it might have been efficient in its proper mode of warfare. The enemy, at the beginning of the siege, had stationed General Vathier at Fuentes with 600 cavalry and 1200 foot to command the country and collect provisions. This movement of the peasants was too near him to be concealed; he fell upon them, routed them with some slaughter, and got possession of all their stores. ♦Alcañiz occupied by the French.♦ The pursuit led him as far as Ixar, and from thence he proceeded against Alcañiz. The peasantry whom Francisco Palafox had collected there drew up on the heights before the town, and withstood the attack with more firmness ♦Rogniat, 17.♦ than might have been expected from such a force; but they were not equal to contend with disciplined troops; and Vathier occupied the towns of Alcañiz and Cuspe as long as the siege endured.
♦Movement in Navarre and Aragon.♦
These misfortunes did not discourage the Spaniards, and the movements of the inhabitants both in Navarre and Aragon were formidable enough to excite some uneasiness in the besiegers. While the Navarrese bands interrupted their communication with Pamplona, the mountaineers of Soria threatened Tudela, and those of the Sierra de Muela endangered their hospitals and establishments at Alagon Lazan, meantime, with his brother Francisco, occupied the country from Villa Franca de Ebro to Licineña and Zuera, and sending detachments as far as Capavrosa to intercept the enemy’s convoys, straitened Gazan’s division in their camp. More than once the French were without meat, and upon half rations of bread; and they might have been foiled a second time before Zaragoza, more shamefully than the first, if the heroism of the inhabitants had been in any degree seconded from without, and if the want of capacity in the Spanish leaders had not been as glaring as the want of order in the field and of reason in their councils. The besiegers had felt some ill effects from the latter cause; but an end was put to jarring pretensions and contrarient views when ♦M. Lasnes takes the command.♦ Marshal Lasnes arrived on the 22d of January to take the command. He had previously ordered Mortier to leave Calatayud, and act with Suchet’s division on the left of the Ebro; having dispersed the force which Francisco Palafox had collected there, they took possession of Zuera, and scouring the country as far as Pina, Sarineña, ♦Rogniat, 18, 20.♦ and Huesca, secured the besiegers from interruption on that side. The French Marshal hoped that this might abate the spirit of the Zaragozans as much as it had cheered them ♦He summons Palafox to surrender. Jan. 25.♦ when they saw the force of their countrymen upon the surrounding heights; and he addressed a letter to Palafox, telling him that the force upon which he had relied for relief had been destroyed, that the English had fled to Coruña and embarked there, leaving 7000 prisoners, and that Romana had escaped with them, his army with their officers having yielded to the Emperor: that Infantado had been defeated at Ucles with the loss of 18,000 men; and that if after this true statement he persisted in withstanding a force more than sufficient for effecting its purpose, the destruction of the city and of its inhabitants must rest upon his head. Palafox ♦Cavallero, 107.♦
♦Seb. Hermandez, 14, 15.♦ replied, that M. Lasnes would cover himself with glory if he were to win the city by force of manly courage with the sword, and not by bombarding it; but that the Zaragozans knew their duty, and would not surrender.
♦The French enter the city, but with great loss. Jan. 26.♦
All the outworks had now been taken except the Castle of the Inquisition, which had never been seriously attacked, because its possession was of no importance to the enemy. The batteries against the city itself were completed, and on the day after the summons fifty pieces opened their fire upon the wall, and on the morrow three practicable breaches were made. One was by an oil-mill, a building standing alone, without the walls, and close to them; the enemy had established themselves in it during the night. The second was to the left of this, immediately opposite S. Joseph’s; the third in the monastery of S. Engracia. All these were attacked. A column issuing from the oil-mill presently reached the first, and the explosion of two fougades at the foot of the breach scarcely appeared to impede their progress. But they found an inner intrenchment, well constructed and mounted with two guns; and when they attempted to carry this the bell of the Torre Nueva rang, the inhabitants manned the adjacent houses, and a fire was opened from roofs and windows which it was neither possible to return nor to withstand. Profiting, however, by the cover which the exploded fougades afforded them, they succeeded in lodging themselves upon the breach. On the left they were more successful; after gaining the ramparts, they made their way into the opposite house, which the artillery had breached, and into the two adjoining ones; their progress was then stopped, but they established themselves within the walls, and repaired and lengthened for their own use a double caponier, by which the besieged used to communicate with S. Joseph’s. The attack upon the third breach was more formidable. After a severe struggle the enemy entered the convent of S. Engracia, obtained possession of its ruins and of the nunnery of S. Joseph, which stood near, and of which little more than the mere shell was remaining. Piercing the walls of this, they enfiladed the curtain from S. Engracia to the bridge of the Huerba, and taking the tête-de-pont in reverse, became masters of the bridge, over which fresh troops joined them to follow up their success. They pushed on to the Capuchin convent of La Trinidad, which made part of the line; forty artillerymen, who were stationed there without support, as a place not in danger of attack, were cut to pieces at their guns, and the convent was taken. It was recovered by the Spaniards; but two battalions came to support the assailants, who took it a second time, and maintained their conquest, though at a dear price. The greater part of the French who occupied the curtain fell under the fire from the houses. They suffered also considerably in a vain attempt to possess themselves of a single house which defended an imperfect breach to the right of all their other attacks. Their whole loss was stated by themselves at 600, that of the besiegers at eight. The Spaniards, with better reason, believed that a much greater proportion of the enemy had fallen; and the French had in fact received so severe a lesson, that they determined not to ♦Rogniat, 22, 26.
Cavallero, 102–105.♦ risk any more direct attacks, but proceed always as much as possible under cover: there was danger otherwise that the troops would become impatient of so fatal a service, and even that all their efforts might be unavailing.
♦The enemy establish themselves in the Trinidad convent.♦
As it was now no longer necessary to carry on the false attack upon the Aljafaria, the engineers were called from thence to fortify the Trinidad convent, and establish a communication with it and with a house by the bridge; commanding in this manner the whole intermediate space. During the night the Spaniards endeavoured to recover the ruins of S. Engracia and the adjoining houses, but without success. They attempted twice also to regain the Trinidad, and once succeeded so far as to force open the church door: the enemy had formed an epaulement within of bags of earth, and fought to advantage behind that protection. A friar was at the head of the assailants, with a sword in one hand and the crucifix in the other; one of his brethren was killed in the act of administering extreme unction to a Spaniard who was mortally wounded; another took the holy oil from the slain, and continued to perform the same office to his dying countrymen. Women also mingled with the combatants, distributing cartridges to them, and bearing refreshments to their sons, ♦Rogniat, 25, 28.
Cavallero, 105.♦ their husbands, and fathers, and sometimes rushing upon the enemy when these dear relatives fell, to revenge their deaths, and to die with them.
♦Convents of S. Augustin and S. Monica won.♦
The French had in vain attempted to get possession of the convents of S. Augustin and ♦Feb. 1.♦ S. Monica. Having been repelled in assaulting ♦1809.
February.♦ the breaches, they sprung a mine under the partition wall, and by that means effected an entrance, turning all the works which the Spaniards had constructed for their defence. They forced their way into the church. Every column, every chapel, every altar, became a point of defence, which was repeatedly attacked, taken, and retaken, and attacked again; the pavement was covered with blood, and the aisles and nave of the church strewed with the dead, who were trampled under foot by the combatants. In the midst of this conflict the roof, which had been shattered by bombs, fell in; the few who were not crushed, after a short pause which this tremendous shock and the sense of their own escape occasioned, renewed the fight with increased desperation: fresh parties of the enemy poured in: monks, and citizens, and soldiers came to the defence, and the contest was continued upon the ruins and the bodies of the dead and the dying. It ended in favour of the invaders, who succeeded in keeping the disputed position. Taking advantage of the opportunity afforded while the attention of the Spaniards was directed to this point, they entered the Rua Quemada, where no attack was at that time apprehended, and got possession of one side of the street to the angle which it makes with the Cozo: their sappers were beginning to pierce the walls of the houses, barricade the doors and windows, and establish traverses in the street, when the Zaragozans charged them with redoubled spirit, drove them out with considerable loss, and recovered four houses which had been taken on a preceding day. At the same time an attack was made on the side of S. Engracia, when, after exploding two mines, the Poles got possession of some ruined houses; but in obtaining this success, General Lacoste, the ♦Rogniat, 27, 30.
Cavallero, 106.♦ French commandant of engineers, was killed. His opponent, Colonel San Genis, had fallen the preceding day: he was succeeded by Colonel Zappino, Lacoste by Colonel Rogniat.
♦The enemy proceed by mining.♦
Now that the city was open to the invaders, the contest was to be carried on once more in the streets and houses. But the French had been taught by experience that in such domestic warfare the Zaragozans derived a superiority from the feeling and principle which inspired them, and the cause wherein they were engaged. They had learned that the only means of conquering it was to destroy it house by house, and street by street; and upon this system of destruction they proceeded. Three companies of miners and eight of sappers carried on this subterranean war. The Spaniards had officers who could have opposed them with not inferior skill; but men were wanting, and the art of sapping and mining is not one which can be learned on the spot where it is wanted; their attempts therefore were frequently discovered, and the men suffocated in their own works. Nor indeed had they been more expert could powder have been supplied for their consumption. The stock with which the Zaragozans began had been exhausted; they had none but what they manufactured day by day, and no other cannon-balls than those which had been fired against them, and which they collected and fired back upon the enemy.
♦Progress of the pestilence.♦
The Zaragozans expected miracles for their deliverance; and they exerted themselves so excellently well, that the French, with all their advantages, would have found themselves unequal to the enterprise in which they were engaged, and other armies must have been brought up to supply more thousands for the slaughter, if the defenders had not been suffering under an evil which in their circumstances it was equally impossible to prevent or to alleviate. The consequences of that evil, when it had once appeared, were but too surely to be apprehended; and in bitter anticipation, yet while a hope ♦Miralles, Elogio de Zaragoza, p. 42.♦ remained, an Aragoneze exclaimed, Zaragoza surrenders not, if God is neutral! If the seasons had only held their ordinary course, this heroic people might a second time have delivered themselves. In that part of Spain January is commonly a wet month. Had the rains fallen as usual, the enemy would hardly have been able to complete their approaches; had the weather, on the contrary, been severe, it might have stopped the contagion, and then the city would have had hands as well as hearts for its defence. But the season proved at once dry enough for the ground to be in the most favourable state for the besiegers’ operations, and mild enough to increase the progress of the disease, which was now more destructive than the enemy, though no enemy ever employed the ♦Cavallero, 71.♦ means of destruction with less remorse. When once the pestilence had begun it was impossible to check its progress, or confine it to one quarter of the city. It was not long before more than thirty hospitals were established; ... as soon as one was destroyed by the bombardment the patients were removed to some other building which was in a state to afford them temporary shelter, and thus the infection was carried to every part of Zaragoza. The average of daily deaths from this cause was at this time not less than three hundred and fifty; men stretched upon straw, in helpless misery lay breathing their last, and with their dying breath spreading the mortal taint of their own disease, who, if they had fallen in action, would have died with the exultation of martyrs. Their sole comfort was the sense of having performed their duty religiously to the uttermost ... all other alleviations were wanting; neither medicines nor necessary food were to be procured, nor needful attendance ... for the ministers of charity themselves became victims of the disease. All that the most compassionate had now to bestow was a little water in which rice had been boiled, and a winding-sheet. The nuns, driven from their convents, knew not where to take refuge, nor where to find shelter for their dying sisters. The Church of the Pillar was crowded with poor creatures, who, despairing of life, hoped now for nothing more than to die in the presence of the tutelary saint. The clergy were employed night and day in administering the sacraments to the dying, till they themselves sunk under the common calamity. The slightest wound produced gangrene and death in bodies so prepared for dissolution by distress of mind, agitation, want of proper aliment and of sleep. For there was now no respite neither by day nor night for this devoted city; even the natural order of light and darkness was destroyed in Zaragoza: by day it was involved in a red sulphureous atmosphere of smoke and dust, which hid the face of heaven; by night the fire of cannon and mortars, and the flames of burning houses, kept it in a state of horrible illumination. The cemeteries could no longer afford room for the dead; huge pits were dug to receive them in the streets and in the courts of the public buildings, till hands were wanting for the labour; they were laid before the churches, ♦Sebastian Hernandez, p. 17.
Cavallero, p. 108.♦ heaped upon one another, and covered with sheets; and that no spectacle of horror might be wanting, it happened not unfrequently that these piles of mortality were struck by a shell, and the shattered bodies scattered in all directions.
♦First talk of surrender in the city.♦
On the 1st of February the situation of the city appeared so desperate, that persons of approved and unquestionable patriotism came to the Regent of the Royal Audience of Aragon, D. Pedro Maria Ric, and besought him to represent to Palafox the necessity of capitulating; but Ric, with a spirit like that of Palafox himself, could not submit to this while there was any possibility of prolonging the defence. He knew that of all examples there is none which makes so sure and so powerful an impression as that of heroic suffering; and that if Zaragoza were defended to the last gasp, the influence of its fall under such circumstances would be not less honourable and hardly less salutary than a happier termination. Nor indeed would the people have consented to a surrender; their spirit was unsubdued, and the principle which supported it retained all its force. The worst effect of their sense of increasing danger was, that it increased their suspicions, always too easily excited; and ♦D. P. M. Ric, Semanario Patriotico, No. 28, p. 214.
Cavallero, p. 110.♦ to those suspicions several persons were sacrificed, being with or without proof hung during the night in the Cozo and in the market-place. The character indeed of the struggle was such as to excite the most implacable indignation and hatred against an enemy, who having begun the war with such unexampled treachery, prosecuted it with a ferocity equally unexampled in later ages.
♦The contest carried on by fire.♦
Four days the French were employed in forming three galleries to cross the Rua Quemada. They failed in two; the third opened into the cellar of an undefended house; thence they made way along great part of the street from house to house, and crossing another street by means of a double epaulement of bags of earth, established themselves in the ruins of a house which formed an angle of the Cozo and of the Rua del Medio, Their next object was to get possession of the Escuelas Pias, a building which commanded some traverses made for defending the Cozo. The French often attacked it, and were as often repulsed; they then attempted the adjoining houses. The system of blowing up the houses exposed them to an evil which had not been foreseen, for when they attempted to establish themselves upon the ruins, the Spaniards from the dwellings near fired upon them with sure effect. They endeavoured therefore so to proportion the charge in their mines as to breach the house without destroying it; but to deprive them of the cover which they would thus have obtained, the Zaragozans with characteristic desperation set fire now to every house before they abandoned it. They began this mode of defence here, maintaining the entrance till they had prepared the building for burning; for so little wood was used in the construction, that it was necessary to smear the floors and beams with melted resin, to make them more combustible. When all was ready they then set fire to the place, and retired into the Escuelas Pias, interposing thus a barrier of flames between them and the assailants. The enemy endeavoured in vain to extinguish the fire under a shower of balls; and the time thus gained was employed by the Zaragozans in forming new works of defence. Unable to win the Schools by any other means, the enemy at length prepared a mine, which was discovered too late ♦Rogniat, 30, 1.
Cavallero, 121. Feb. 7.♦ for the Spaniards to frustrate their purpose, but in time to disappoint them of their expected advantage by setting fire to the disputed edifice.
♦Convent of Jesus taken in the suburbs.♦
On the same day operations were renewed against the suburbs, where the enemy, at the commencement of the siege, had received so severe a repulse. General Gazan, availing himself of an ambiguity in his orders, had, after that lesson, contented himself with keeping up the blockade; nor could any representation induce him to engage in more active operations, till M. Lasnes arrived with authority to enforce his orders. The Convent of Jesus, situated on the road to Barcelona, formed part of the defence on that side; the engineers, not having time to rase it, deeming it better that it should be occupied than abandoned for the enemy. Trenches were now opened against this building, and twenty battering pieces soon effected a breach, which was carried almost as easily as it had been made; but when the enemy, flushed with success, entered the suburbs in pursuit of the retreating garrison, they were driven out with great slaughter, as on their former attempt. ♦Rogniat, 34, 35.♦ They entrenched themselves, however, on the ruins of the convent, established a communication with it, and lodgements on the right and left.
The attack in the centre was pursued with the same vigour, and resisted with the same desperate determination. Every door, every staircase, every chamber was disputed; the ♦S. Francisco taken.♦ French abandoned all attacks to the left for the sake of concentrating their efforts here, that they might the sooner reach the Cozo, extend themselves along it to the right as far as the quay, and thus connect their operations with those of Gazan on the other side the Ebro: and these increased efforts were met with proportionate exertions by the Zaragozans. Grenades were thrown from one floor to another, and bombs were rolled among the enemy, when they were so near that the Spaniards who rolled them expected themselves also to perish by the explosion. Their resolution seemed, if it were possible, to increase with their danger; every spot was defended with more obstinacy than the last; and this temper would have been, as it deserved to be, invincible, if pestilence the while had not been consuming them faster than fire and sword. The sense of honour as well as of duty was carried to its highest point; the officers preferred dying upon the stations which they had been appointed to defend, rather than to live after having lost them, though every possible resistance had been made. On this side, after having occupied and been driven from the vaults of the Hospital, which had been reduced to ruins in the former siege, the enemy succeeded at length in carrying a gallery to the great convent of S. Francisco; ... a countermine was prepared, which compelled them to stop before they could get under the walls of the convent. The engineer, Major Breuille, immediately charged the mine with three thousand weight of powder, and fired it, having drawn by feigned preparations for an assault as many Spaniards as he could within the sphere of destruction. The explosion was terrible, and brought down part of the building: the enemy rushed through the breach, and making way into the church, formed an epaulement there to establish themselves. Some Zaragozans who were acquainted with the building got, by passages connected with the tower, upon the cornices of the church; others mounted the roof, and broke holes in it, and from thence they poured down grenades upon the invaders, and drove them from their post. The ruins of this convent, which had been burnt during the first siege, and now shattered by the mine, were disputed two whole days, till the defenders at length were driven from the last chapel by the bayonet. For the advantage now both in numbers and in physical power was on the side of the enemy, the pestilence having so wasted the Spaniards, that men ♦Rogniat, 36.
Cavallero, 126.♦ enough could not be provided to man the points which were attacked without calling up from the hospitals those who had yet strength enough to use a weapon.
From the tower of this building the French commanded the Cozo for a musket-shot distance ♦The French begin to murmur.♦ on either side. After many desperate attempts their miners succeeded in crossing that street; but they were baffled in their attacks upon the University, and so many of their officers and best soldiers had fallen in this murderous struggle, that the disgust which ought to have been excited by their abominable cause was produced by the difficulty which they found in pursuing it. Not the men alone, but the officers also, began to complain that they were worn out, though they had as yet only taken a fourth part of the town; it was necessary, they said, to wait for reinforcements, otherwise they should all be buried in these cursed ruins, before they could drive the fanatics from their last retreat. Marshal Lasnes represented to them, that destructive as the mode of war was, it was more so to the besieged than to them, whose operations were directed by more skill, and carried on by men trained to such service; that pestilence was doing their work; and that if these desperate madmen chose to renew the example of Numantia, and bury themselves under the ruins of their city, bombs and mines would not now be ♦Rogniat, 38.♦ long in destroying the last of them. Marshal Lasnes was a man after the Emperor Napoleon’s own heart; with so little honourable feeling, that he regarded the Zaragozans merely as madmen; and with so little human feeling, that he would have completed the destruction of the city and its last inhabitants with the same insensibility that he declared his intention of doing so.
♦Not even an attempt is made to relieve the city.♦
S. Genis had repeatedly said, “Let me never be appealed to if there is any question of capitulating, for I shall never be of opinion that we can no longer defend ourselves.” In the same spirit Palafox wrote to his friend General Doyle: “Within the last forty-eight hours,” said he, “6000 shells have been thrown in; two-thirds of the city are in ruins; but we will perish under the ruins of the remaining part, rather than surrender.” It was not by any promises or hopes of external succour that this spirit was supported. Palafox well knew that no efforts would be wanting on the part of his brothers, or of his friends; but he knew also what divided counsels and jarring interests were opposed to them, and that willing lives were all they could have had at their command. General Doyle with great exertions got together ammunition and stores at Mequinenza, in the beginning of February; and the Marques de Lazan took the field from Lerida with a nominal force of 7000 foot and 250 horse to attempt something for the relief of the besieged city. It was soon learnt by their spies that a corps of 10,000 foot and 800 horse was ready to oppose them; and rather than make an attempt which must inevitably have ended in the utter rout of his ill-disciplined troops, Lazan waited at Monzon, to be joined by a division from Valencia, which the Junta of that kingdom had at last consented to send across the Ebro. But a French division in Aragon threatened to impede the junction: ammunition was wanted from Lerida, which the Junta of that city demurred at granting; time was consumed in miserable counsels and hopeless expectation, Lazan looking to Reding for some great exertion, and Reding deterred from attempting any thing, though with a superior force, by total want of confidence in his army, and the suspicion that whatever passed at his head-quarters was immediately communicated to the enemy; and thus while Lazan and his brother were in the most pitiable distress, knowing the state of Zaragoza, where their families were suffering under the unexampled horrors of such a siege, ... while every man in their division partook that feeling which the situation of the besieged excited in all their countrymen ... an anxiety as unexampled as it was great, ... and while every where it was expected that some efforts such as the occasion required would be made; even the most ready and devoted courage was of no avail where preparation, order, discipline, prompt judgement, and vigorous authority were all wanting; and though the province and the nation were in arms, Zaragoza was left to its fate without even an attempt to save it.
♦Progress of the pestilence.♦
Meantime pestilence was consuming the Zaragozans faster than fire and sword. The points which were not immediately threatened were now wholly manned by men who rose from their straw in the hospitals, and sate at their posts, unable to support themselves standing, wrapped in their blankets, and shivering or panting for breath, as the ague or the hot fit of the disease might prevail. The officer whose dreadful task it was to choose out patients for the service became in his turn a victim to the contagion. Hopeless of finding relief any where, the sick resigned themselves quietly to their fate; the dying and the dead were buried together beneath the houses which were blown up, or consumed in the flames; and the French found court-yards and chambers filled with corpses, and said themselves that they were fighting now only to obtain possession of a cemetery. ♦Rogniat, 39.
Cavallero, 129.♦ The ravages of the disease were such, that many, bearing up with invincible resolution to the last, fell in the streets and died. The enemy did not remit their attacks while death was thus doing their work; they profited by the weakness of the besieged, and opening a fire ♦Feb. 18.♦ from their batteries on both sides the Convent of Jesus upon the suburbs, made another attempt upon the feeble works where they had twice been repulsed with such great loss. A fire ♦The suburbs taken.♦ from fifty pieces soon made the way open, and the bridge being flanked by some of their guns, no succour could be sent from the city. Baron de Versaje, who commanded there, and had distinguished himself in the defence, was killed in repairing to his post. A breach was made in the Convent of S. Lazarus on the left bank; the garrison, exhausted by privations and fatigue and sickness, opposed all the resistance in their power, ... the greater number dying in its defence; and this edifice being taken, the Spaniards could neither retreat from the suburbs, nor hope to support themselves there, when they could no longer be supplied with food or ammunition from the city. Finding themselves separated by the enemy into two columns, the one body crossed the bridge with considerable loss, and effected their retreat into the town; the other cut their way through the enemy, and endeavoured to escape in the open country ♦Rogniat, 41.
Cavallero, 137.♦ along the bank of the Ebro; they were pursued by the French horse, and after sustaining a second action till their powder was exhausted, were taken prisoners to the number of 1500.
♦The University taken.♦
The loss of the left bank exposed to the enemy the only part of the city which had not yet been open to their direct attacks, but had only suffered from the bombardment. On the other side, the University, after repeated attempts, had been taken, and the traverses which the Spaniards had so well defended in the Cozo. Palafox had now been seized with the disease. Capitulation had been mentioned at the last council in which he was present, and when it was asked how long the city could hold out, his answer had been, hasta la ultima tapia; “to the ♦Palafox transfers his authority to a Junta.♦ last mud-wall.” Being now utterly disabled, he transferred all his authority, civil and military, on the night of the 18th, to a Junta, naming Ric to be the president. That noble-minded Spaniard immediately summoned the members, and they began their functions at one on the morning of the 19th. The chiefs of the various military departments were summoned to deliver ♦Condition of the besieged.♦ their opinions. The general of cavalry represented, that there remained only sixty-two horses, and those weak and unserviceable, the rest having died of hunger. From a statement of the infantry it appeared that there were only 2822 men fit for service. Ammunition was nearly exhausted; there was none but what was manufactured in the Inquisition, and that would be destroyed if a shell should fall there. The commandant of engineers reported that the fortifications were demolished, there were neither men nor materials for repairing them, and all the cloth which could serve for bags of earth had been consumed. All the officers who had thus been consulted gave their opinion that the place ought to be surrendered, and that the Junta would be responsible to God and the King for the lives which every hour were sacrificed, if they persisted in resistance, now that it was become manifestly impossible to save the city. Having heard this melancholy representation, the Junta required General San Marc, who was one of their members, to express his judgement; the eminent talents and courage which he had displayed during the whole siege would render his opinion decisive both with them and the commander-in-chief and the people. He stated, that if the enemy made a general attack, which the preparations that were observed appeared to indicate, the loss of the city was inevitable, and would be followed by every imaginable horror. It was known with what fury the French treated every place which they conquered, and their rage would be greater here, on account of the hatred which they and their general and their bloody Emperor bore towards a city that had once put them to such shame, and now cost them so dearly. If the attacks were partial, such as those which were repeatedly made every day, they might hold out two days longer, or possibly four, provided men could be found for defence and for the works; longer than four days it was not possible to maintain the contest: San Marc concluded by declaring, that unless there were well-founded expectations of speedy relief, it was unjustifiable ♦Ric, Sem. Patr. 215, 6.♦ to sacrifice the lives which in these days must be lost, the loss of the city in that short time being unavoidable.
Upon this the Junta proceeded to make inquiry what expectations of relief there were: for this purpose the Duke of Villahermosa was sent to Palafox; but Palafox was now so ill that he could give no account of any thing, for the fever had fixed upon his brain. His secretary was applied to for any letters and documents which might be in his possession: he delivered in two, both of which were dated long back. One was a letter from Francisco Palafox, saying, that after making the utmost exertions to collect troops, but in vain, he was then at Tortosa, assembling the peasantry with some soldiers from the garrisons on the coast, and that he designed to strengthen this force with some gun-boats that were to be sent up the Ebro. The other was a scrap of paper, written in enigmatical terms (for it had to pass through the enemy’s lines), and, as it was supposed, by the Conde de Montijo. It said, that the writer and the Duke del Infantado wished to come to the relief of Zaragoza, but the Central Junta had ordered that the Swiss should go, and that they were to fall upon Madrid. The Swiss was understood to mean General Reding; but he was so situated that no succour could be expected from him; for he was in Catalonia, and the enemy being masters of the suburbs, it was not possible for him now to cross the bridge. Moreover there could be no doubt, that other divisions of the French gave him full employment. These papers, therefore, only confirmed the Junta in their apprehensions that the French were victorious every where, and that in the ♦Ric, 216, 7.♦ general distress of the country they could expect no relief.
♦Flag of truce sent to the French.♦
While they were deliberating the bombardment was renewed. They knew that the city could not hold out; twenty-six members voted for a capitulation, eight, with Ric among them, that they should still continue their resistance, urging that there was a possibility of being succoured. Such was the high spirit of these brave men, that the opinion of the minority was followed: for they who had voted for surrendering had done so for the sake of others, ... for themselves, there was not one among them who would not rather have died than capitulated. They agreed to send a flag of truce to the enemy, requesting a suspension of hostilities for three days, that officers might in the meantime be sent to ascertain the situation of the Spanish armies, and according to the intelligence which might thus be obtained, they would then treat for a surrender. Lasnes, when he had summoned the city, had proposed this method himself, ... he now resented the proposal as an insult, and vented the most ferocious threats against the city, unless it were immediately delivered up. The flag was remanded with a second letter, reminding him that the proposal was originally his own: he did not vouchsafe to answer in any other manner than ♦Ric, 217, 8.♦ by a shower of bombs, and by ordering the attack to be renewed.
♦Last efforts of the besieged.♦
In the evening of that day the quarter of the Tanneries was lost, a part of the strand leading to the stone bridge, and the Puerto del Angel, a point of great importance. Four cannon in the battery of the wooden bridge were spiked, treacherously it was supposed, ... but there was no time for ascertaining this and punishing the traitors. The handful of men who remained were at their posts, manifesting their wonted resolution; but they were too few for the severe service to which they were exposed, and San Marc applied to Ric to reinforce with only 200 the points which were attacked, ... more he did not ask for, knowing the deplorable state of the city. Ric had already charged Don Miguel Marraco, a beneficed priest of the Church of the Pillar, whom the general had commissioned to organise the peasantry, to provide men for the works, ... he now sent him a note which would have excited him to new exertions had there been any remissness on his part. Don Mariano Cerazo, an honourable citizen, who had distinguished himself by his zeal and his influence with the people, was called upon in like manner; and certain priests also, who had united for the purpose of training and encouraging the peasantry, were requested in this emergency to furnish men. These measures, before the pestilence had so widely extended itself, would in a quarter of an hour have produced a thousand armed men. Ric ordered also the alarm to be beaten in the New Tower, and taking advantage of a favourable moment, when the enemy were driven back by the bayonet from the Convent del Sepulcro, he sent the public crier through the streets to proclaim this success, and summon the people by sound of trumpet to complete the victory. But disease had subdued them; of the surviving population, the few who were not suffering under the disorder were attending their sick or dying friends, and neither hope nor despair could call them out, ... hope, indeed, they had none, and the dreadful duty in which they were engaged rendered them insensible to all evils but those before their eyes. San Marc was joined by only seventeen men; ill tidings came upon him from every quarter; one commander complained that he was cut off at his station, another that he was on the point of being so, a third that he was undermined, ... from every quarter they called for troops and ♦Ric, 218, 9.♦ labourers and ammunition, at a time when all were wanting.
♦D. P. Maria Ric goes out to treat with M. Lasnes.♦
Thus situated, the Junta ordered the almoners of the different parishes to inform their parishioners of the state of the city, and report the opinion which they should form in consequence. Two-thirds of the city had been destroyed; thirty thousand of the inhabitants had perished, and from three to four hundred persons were daily dying of the pestilence. Under such circumstances the Junta protested that they had fulfilled their oath of fidelity, for Zaragoza was destroyed; and they dispatched a flag of truce to the French commander, requesting a suspension of hostilities for four-and-twenty hours, that they might in that time negotiate for a capitulation. A French officer came with the reply, requiring the Junta to wait upon Marshal Lasnes within two hours, and declaring that after that time was expired he would not listen to any terms. Ric instantly summoned the Junta, and as they could not all be immediately collected, he proceeded with some of them toward Marshal Lasnes, leaving some to acquaint the others with the result of the flag of truce, and to act as circumstances might require. They took a trumpeter with them to announce a parley, because the firing was still continued on both sides; but, notwithstanding this, the Spanish deputies were fired at from one of the enemy’s batteries. Ric protested against this violation of the laws of war, and refused to proceed till he was assured that it should not be repeated. An aide-de-camp of the French general had just before arrived, with instructions that the Junta should repair to the Casa Blanca, not to the suburbs, as had been first appointed; this officer went for an escort of infantry, and conducted Ric and his colleagues to the general’s presence. Lasnes received them with an insolent indifference, while his despite for the brave resistance which he had found betrayed itself in marks of affected contempt. He took some turns about the room, then addressing himself to Ric, began to inveigh against the Zaragozans for not believing him when he said that resistance was in vain, ... for which, he said, they deserved little consideration from his hands. He reproached the Junta also. Ric interrupted him. The Junta, he said, had commenced their sittings on the yesterday, and therefore could not be responsible for any thing before that time. The Marshal himself must feel, that if they had surrendered without having ascertained the absolute necessity of surrendering, they would have failed in their duty. When they were informed of the actual state of affairs, they had considered of a capitulation, and addressed a letter, proposing measures which he himself had suggested in the summons to which he now alluded. This had offended him, and he did not condescend to notice their second letter in explanation of the first. They had then dispatched a third flag, requesting a suspension of four-and-twenty hours, because they were accountable to the people, and that time was necessary for ascertaining the public will. Zaragoza, which had so nobly distinguished itself by the manner of its resistance, must also distinguish itself in the manner of capitulating, when capitulation was become inevitable. “Acting upon these principles,” said Ric, “it is my duty to declare that I bring neither powers nor instructions, neither do I know the will of the people; but I believe they ♦Ric, 229–231.♦ will accept a capitulation, provided it be reasonable, and becoming the heroism with which Zaragoza has defended itself.”
♦Capitulation.♦
The manner and the manliness of this declaration were not lost even upon Lasnes: in spite of himself he felt the superiority of the men who stood before him, and, abstaining from farther insults, he said, that the women and children should be safe, and that the negotiation was concluded. Ric replied, it was not yet begun; for this would be surrendering at discretion, and Zaragoza had no such thought. If the Marshal insisted upon this, he might renew his attacks on the city, “And I and my companions,” said the noble Aragoneze, “will return there, and continue to defend ourselves; we have yet arms and ammunition, and daggers: war is never without its chances; and if we are driven to despair, it yet remains to be seen who are to be victorious.” This answer did not appear to irritate the French general; he knew, indeed, that though farther resistance could not possibly save Zaragoza, every inch which he had to win must be dearly purchased, and, for the honour of France, the sooner the siege was concluded the better; ... it had already lasted too long. There was another reason, too, why he did not refuse to grant terms, ... it would be in his power to break them. He called for his secretary, and dictated the preamble of the capitulation and some of the articles. The first stipulated that the garrison should surrender prisoners. Ric proposed that they should march out, as became them, with the honours of war; Lasnes would not consent to make any alteration in the words of the article, but he promised that those honours should be allowed them, and that the officers should retain their baggage, and the men their knapsacks. Ric then required that Palafox might be at liberty to go whithersoever he pleased, with all his staff. It was replied, that an individual could never be the subject of capitulation; but Marshal Lasnes pledged his word of honour that Palafox should go to any place he pleased; and he specified Mallen or Toledo. Those places, Ric replied, would not suit him, because they were occupied by French troops, and it was understood that he thought of going to Majorca. Lasnes then gave his word of honour that he might go to any place which he thought best. It was demanded that all persons, not included in the garrison, who wished to leave Zaragoza, in order to avoid the contagion, should be allowed passports. Lasnes replied, all who wished it might go out, ... he pledged his word to this; ♦Ric, 231, 2.♦ but it was not necessary, he said, to insert an article upon this head, and he was desirous of terminating the capitulation.
♦Farther conditions asked, and refused.♦
While copies of the capitulation were drawing out, the French general produced a plan of the city, and laid his finger upon the part which was that night to have been blown up, telling Ric that 44,000 lbs. of powder were already lodged for the explosion, and that this would have been followed by a cannonade from seventy pieces of artillery, and a bombardment from thirty mortars, which they were at that time mounting in the suburbs. The duplicates being signed, Ric and his companions returned to lay the terms before the other members of the Junta; and they, who had ascertained the opinion of their fellow-citizens, accepted, ratified, and signed the act. Some farther stipulations, however, they still thought desirable; they wished it to be stated in the articles, that the garrison were to march out with the honours of war; for, as only the written capitulation would appear in the gazettes, if this were not expressed it would not be understood. They required also, that the peasants who had been formed into temporary corps should not be prisoners of war, urging, that they ought not to be considered as regular soldiers, and representing the injury which it would be to agriculture if they were marched away. And at the petition of the clergy, they requested that an article might be added, securing to them the punctual payment of their revenues from the funds assigned by the government for that purpose. With these proposals Ric returned to Marshal Lasnes; the two former were in every respect unexceptionable; the last was the only one upon which any demur might have been looked for. The French commander, however, broke into a fit of rage, snatched the paper out of Ric’s hand, and threw it into the fire. One of his generals, sensible of the indecency of this ♦Ric, 232–4.♦ conduct, rescued it from the flames; and Ric, unable to obtain more, received a ratified copy of the capitulation, and returned to the city.
The French, by their own account, threw above 17,000 bombs during the siege, and expended near an hundred and sixty thousand weight of powder. More than 30,000 men, and 500 officers, the flower of the Spanish armies, lay buried beneath the ruins of Zaragoza; and this is far from the amount of lives which were sacrificed in this memorable and most virtuous defence, the number of women and children who perished by the bombardment, by the mines, by famine and pestilence, remaining untold. The loss of the besiegers was carefully concealed; it was sufficient to cripple their army; the Paris papers declared, that one part was to march against Lerida, another against Valencia, and neither of these movements could be effected.
♦Conduct of the French.♦
On the evening of the capitulation the French troops entered. They began immediately to pillage. General Laval was appointed governor. He ordered all the clergy of the city to go out and compliment Marshal Lasnes; ... the yoke was upon their necks; they went forth to appear at this ceremony, like prisoners in a Roman triumph, and as they went, the French soldiers were permitted to rob them of their apparel in the streets. Laval, when complaint was made to him of such outrages, observed, that his troops had to indemnify themselves for the plunder which they looked upon as certain, and which ♦Ric, 235.♦ they would have had in another day, if the capitulation had not disappointed them.
♦Treatment of the prisoners.♦
When the French entered the city six thousand bodies were lying in the streets and trenches, or piled up in heaps before the churches. The people, still unsubdued in spirit, were with difficulty restrained from declaring that the capitulation was concluded without their consent, and rushing upon the invaders with the determination of taking vengeance and dying in the act. The armed peasants, instead of delivering up the weapons which they were no longer permitted to use, broke them in pieces with generous indignation. General O’Neille died before the surrender; St. Marc was one of the many hundreds whom the pestilence carried off within a few days after it. P. Basilio escaped from the danger of the war and of the contagion. He was a man of exemplary life and great attainments; and having been tutor to Palafox, and fought by his side in both sieges, remained now at his bedside, to wait upon him in his illness, and administer, if need should be, the last offices of religion to his heroic and beloved pupil. There the French found him, as they had ever found him during the siege, at the post of duty; and they put him to death for having served his country with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength. P. Santiago Sass suffered a like martyrdom. The officers received orders to come out of the city, on pain of being shot if they remained ♦Feb. 22.♦ there after four-and-twenty hours. Immediately upon forming without the town for their march, they were, in contempt of the capitulation, plundered of every thing, stripped of the devices of their different ranks, and pushed in among the common soldiers as leaders of insurgents. It was affirmed in the French bulletin that 17,000 men laid down their arms: there were not more than four-and-twenty hundred capable of bearing them; the rest were in the hospitals, and this, with five-and-twenty hundred taken in the suburbs and during the siege, was the number which was marched off for France. Two hundred and seventy of these men, who from fatigue and weakness could not keep up the pace which their ferocious guard required, were butchered and left on the road, where their companions in the next division might march over their bodies. Augustina Zaragoza was among the prisoners. She had distinguished herself in this siege as much as in the former. At the commencement she took her former station at the Portillo, by the same gun which she had served so well; “See, general,” said she, with a cheerful countenance, pointing to the gun when Palafox visited that quarter, “I am again with my old friend.” Her husband was severely wounded, and she pointed the cannon at the enemy, while he lay bleeding among his companions by her side. Frequently she was at the head of an assaulting party, sword or knife in hand, with her cloak wrapt round her, cheering the soldiers, and encouraging them by her example; constantly exposed as she was, she escaped without a wound: yet once she was thrown into a ditch, and nearly suffocated by the dead and dying who covered her. At the close of the siege she was too well known by the French to escape notice, and they made her prisoner. Fortunately, as it proved, she had at that time taken the contagion, and was removed to the hospital, where, as she was supposed to be dying, little care was taken to secure her. Feeling herself better, she availed herself of this, and effected her escape. Another heroine, whose name was Manuella Sanchez, was shot through the heart. Donna Benita, a lady of distinction, who headed one of the female corps which had been formed to carry provisions, bear away the wounded, and fight in the streets, escaped the hourly dangers to which she exposed herself, only to die of grief upon hearing that her daughter had been killed. During the siege six hundred women and children perished, not by the bombardment and the mines, but in action, by the sword, or bayonet or bullet.
♦Treatment of Palafox.♦
Marshal Lasnes had pledged his word of honour that Palafox should be at liberty to go wherever he would, as soon as he should be able to travel; in contempt of that pledge, he was immediately made prisoner, surrounded entirely by French, and left even in want of necessary food. Ric, who was ever ready to exert himself when any duty was to be performed, remonstrated against this treatment both verbally and in writing. He could obtain little immediate ♦He is compelled by threats of death to sign orders for delivering up other fortresses.♦ relief, and no redress. Arrangements were concerted for his escape, and so well laid, that there would have been every prospect of success, if he had been sufficiently recovered to make the attempt. They were not, however, altogether fruitless; for M. Lasnes having extorted from him, by threats of immediate death if he refused, orders to the governors of Jaca, Benasque, Monzon, and Mequinenza, to deliver up those places to the French, he found means to advise his brother, the Marques de Lazan, of the iniquitous proceeding, and to direct that no obedience should be given to orders so obtained. Unfortunately Jaca and Monzon had been entrusted to commanders who waited only for an opportunity of betraying their charge, and they opened the gates to the enemy. Before Palafox had recovered he was hurried away into France, a country from which and to which, while it was under the iron yoke of Buonaparte, no prisoner returned. On the way he was treated with insolence and barbarity, and robbed even to his very shirt. Buonaparte, who, feeling no virtue in himself, acknowledged none in others, had already reproached him as a coward and a runaway in the field; he now, with contradictory calumny, reviled him for having defended Zaragoza against the will of the inhabitants. “The people,” it was said in the French papers, “held him in such abhorrence, that it was necessary to station a guard before his door, for otherwise he would have been stoned. An idea of the detestation in which he and the monks of his party were held could only be formed by remembering the hatred with which those men were regarded in France, who governed by terror and the guillotine.” Yet while they thus asserted at one time that Palafox defended the city against the will of the people, at another they affirmed that the Spanish troops would have surrendered long before, being perfectly sensible that resistance was unavailing after the French had entered the city, but it did not depend upon them, ... they were obliged to submit to the wills of the meanest of the inhabitants. Any one who should have expressed a wish to capitulate would have been punished with death: such a thought could not be uttered till two-thirds of the city were lying in ruins, and 20,000 of its defenders destroyed by disease.... No higher eulogy could be pronounced upon Zaragoza than was comprised in the very calumnies of its unworthy conqueror.
♦Demands of the French.♦
Before the main body of the French made their entry they demanded of Ric 50,000 pair of shoes, 8000 pair of boots, and 1200 shirts, with medicines and every requisite for an hospital. Several of the officers demanded for themselves double equipage and linen, curtains, pens, paper, and whatever they wanted, insisting that plenty of every thing should be supplied them, and the best of its kind, at the expense of the city. A service of china was required for Junot; and this merciless oppressor, who had escaped the proper punishment of his crimes in Portugal, insisted that a tennis-court should be fitted up for his amusement, in a city of which two-thirds were then lying in ruins, beneath which so large a proportion of the inhabitants lay buried! Ric resisted demands which it was impossible for the city to supply. The French generals, provoked at his refusal to engage for the maintenance of their household, threatened to send in a squadron of hussars. He replied, that well they might, since the gates of the city were demolished and in their power, but that from that moment they would not advance a foot of ground till they had moistened it with French blood. Another member of the Junta, who had less courage, undertook that these ruffians should be satisfied as far as was possible. Ric, who was too true a Spaniard to live under the government of the Intruder, ♦Ric, 245–9.♦ renounced the high office which he held, and, not being considered a prisoner, obtained his liberty.
♦Lasnes makes his entrance.♦
Lasnes made his entrance on Sunday the 5th of March; his approach was announced by the discharge of 200 cannon, and he proceeded in triumph through that part of the city which remained standing, to the Church of the Pillar. The wretched inhabitants had been compelled to adorn the streets with such hangings as could be found, and to witness the pomp of festive triumph, and hear the sounds of joy and exultation. ♦Baseness of the suffragan bishop.♦ The suffragan bishop of the diocese, a traitor who had fled from the town when it took arms, and now returned thither to act as the instrument of the oppressors, met Lasnes at the great door of the church, and conducted him in procession, with the crucifix and the banner, to a throne prepared before the altar, and near the famous idol, which had escaped destruction. Then the wretch addressed a sermon to his countrymen upon the horrors of war! “They had seen,” he said, “in their unhappy city, the streets and market-places strewn with dead, parents expiring and leaving their children helpless and unprotected, babes sucking at the dry breast of the famished mother, palaces in ruins, houses in flames, dead bodies heaped at the doors of the churches, and hurried into common graves without any religious ceremony. And what had been the cause of all this ruin? I repeat it,” said the villanous time-server, “I shall always repeat it, your sins and your seditious spirit, your forgetfulness of the principles of the gospel. These horrors have ceased: and to whom are you indebted for this unexpected happiness? To God in the first place, who raises and destroys monarchies according to his will; after God, to the Virgin of the Pillar, who interceded for us; and in the next place to the generous heart of the great Napoleon, the man who is the messenger of God upon earth to execute his divine decrees, and who is sent to punish us for our sins. Nothing can equal his power except his clemency and his goodness! He has granted us the inestimable favour of peace; oh that, at the expense of my tears and my blood, I could render it eternal! It is fitting, O my God, that for this great and unexpected mercy, this signal mercy, we should all exclaim, Te Deum Laudamus! We praise thee, O God!” Such were the blasphemies which this hoary traitor uttered over the ruins of his heroic city! It is not possible to record them without feeling a wish, that some one of the noble-hearted Zaragozans, who at that hour of bitterness were wishing themselves in the grave, had smitten him upon the spot in the name of his religion and his country.
♦Language of the French.♦
The oath of obedience and allegiance was then administered to those persons who either retained or accepted office under the Intruder’s government. A superb entertainment followed, at which Lasnes and his chief officers sate down to a table of four hundred covers, and at every health which was drunk to the family of Buonaparte the cannons were discharged. The transactions of the day furnished a fine topic for the journalists at Paris. “All the people,” they said, “manifested their joy at so sudden and happy a change in acclamations of ‘long live the Emperor!’ they were edified by the behaviour of their conquerors during the religious ceremony; that ceremony had melted the most obdurate hearts, the hatred of the French was eradicated from all breasts, and Aragon would soon become one of the most submissive provinces in Spain!” At the time when these falsehoods were circulated in France, Junot issued a proclamation, declaring, that every Aragoneze found in arms should be punished with death. Upon this the Supreme Junta addressed an order to their generals, requiring them to apprise the French commanders to whom they might be opposed, that every Spaniard who was capable of carrying arms was a soldier, so their duty required them to be, and ♦Decree of the Central Junta.♦ such the Supreme Junta declared them: “This,” they said, “was not a war of armies against armies, as in other cases, but of an army against a whole nation, resisting the yoke which a tyrant and usurper sought to force upon them; every individual, therefore, of that nation was under the protection of the laws of war, and the general who should violate those laws was not a soldier, but a ruffian, who would provoke the indignation of Heaven, and the vengeance of man. The Junta well knew,” they said, “that the French, when they were victorious, ridiculed principles which the observance and respect of all nations had consecrated, and that they did this with an effrontery and insolence equal to the affectation with which they appealed to them when they were vanquished. The Spaniards were, however, in a condition to enforce that justice which they demanded. Three Frenchmen should suffer for every Spaniard, be he peasant or soldier, who might be put to death. Europe would hear with admiration as well as horror, that a magnanimous nation, which had begun its struggle by making 30,000 prisoners, was forced, in opposition to its natural character, to decimate those prisoners without distinction, from the first general to the meanest in the ranks. But it was the chiefs of their own nation who condemned these unfortunate wretches, and who, by imposing upon Spain the dreadful necessity of retaliation, signed the death of their own countrymen when they murdered a Spaniard.”
♦Address to the nation.♦
The Junta pronounced the funeral oration of Zaragoza, in an address to the people. “Spaniards,” said they, “the only boon which Zaragoza begged of our unfortunate monarch at Vittoria was, that she might be the first city to sacrifice herself in his defence. That sacrifice has been consummated. More than two months the murderous siege continued; almost all the houses were destroyed, those which were still standing had been undermined; provisions were nearly exhausted, ammunition all consumed; 16,000 sick were struggling with a mortal contagion, which every day hurried hundreds to the grave; the garrison was reduced to less than a sixth part; the general dying of the pestilence; O’Neille, the second in command, dead; St. Marc, upon whom the command then devolved, prostrated by the fever: so much was required, Spaniards, to make Zaragoza yield to the rigour of fate, and suffer herself to be occupied by the enemy. The surrender was made upon such terms as the French have granted to other towns, and those terms have been observed as usual by the perfidious enemy. Thus only were they able to take possession of those glorious precincts, filled only with demolished houses and temples, and peopled only with the dead and the dying; where every street, every ruin, every wall, every stone, seemed mutely to say to the beholder, Go, tell my king, that Zaragoza, faithful to her word, hath joyfully sacrificed herself to maintain her truth.
“A series of events, as mournful as they are notorious, frustrated all the efforts which were made to relieve the city; but the imagination of all good men accompanied her defenders in their dangers, was agitated with them in their battles, sympathised in their privations and efforts, and followed them through all the dreadful vicissitudes of their fortune; and when strength failed them at last through a continued resistance, which they had prolonged almost beyond belief, in the first moment of grief it seemed as if the light of liberty had been at once extinguished, and the column of independence overthrown. But, Spaniards, Zaragoza still survives for imitation and example! still survives in the public spirit which, from her heroic exertions, is for ever imbibing lessons of courage and of constancy. For where is the Spaniard, priding himself upon that name, who would be less than the Zaragozans, and not seal the liberty of his country, which he has proclaimed, and the faith to his king, which he has promised, at the cost of the same perils and the same labours? Let the base, the selfish, and the cowardly be dismayed by them; not the other towns of Aragon, who are ready to imitate and to recover their capital; not the firm and faithful patriots, who see in that illustrious city a model to imitate, vengeance to be exacted, and the only path of conquest. Forty thousand Frenchmen, who have perished before the mud walls of Zaragoza, cause France to mourn the barren and ephemeral triumph which she has obtained, and evince to Spain, that three cities of equal resolution will save their country, and baffle the tyrant. Valour springs from valour; and when the unhappy who have suffered, and the victims who have died there, shall learn that their fellow-citizens, following them in the paths of glory, have surpassed them in fortune, they will bless their destiny, however rigorous it has been, and rejoice in the contemplation of our triumphs.
“Time passes away, and days will come when these dreadful convulsions, with which the genius of iniquity is now afflicting the earth, will have subsided. The friends of virtue and patriotism will come to the banks of the Ebro to visit those majestic ruins, and beholding them with admiration and with envy, Here, they will say, stood that city which in modern ages realised, or, more truly, surpassed those ancient prodigies of devotement and constancy, which are scarcely credited in history! Without a regiment, without other defence than a weak wall, without other resources than its courage, it first dared to provoke the fury of the tyrant: twice it withstood the force of his victorious legions. The subjection of this open and defenceless town cost France more blood, more tears, more slaughter, than the conquest of whole kingdoms: nor was it French valour that subdued it; a deadly and general pestilence prostrated the strength of its defenders, and the enemy, when they entered, triumphed over a few sick and dying men, but they did not subdue citizens, nor conquer soldiers.”
♦Honours decreed to the inhabitants.♦
This address was followed by a decree, declaring “that Zaragoza, its inhabitants, and garrison, had deserved well of their country, in an eminent and heroic degree: That whenever Palafox should be restored to liberty, to effect which no efforts on the part of the government should be wanting, the Junta, in the name of the nation, would confer upon him that reward which might seem most worthy of his unconquerable constancy and ardent patriotism: That every officer employed in the siege should be promoted one step, and every private soldier enjoy the rank and the pay of serjeant: That all the defenders of Zaragoza, and its inhabitants, and their heirs, should enjoy personal nobility: That pensions, conformable to their rank and circumstances, should be granted to the widows and orphans of all who had perished there: That the having been within the walls during the siege should be considered as a claim in future pretensions: That Zaragoza should be exempt from all contributions for ten years, from the time when peace should be established; and that at that time the rebuilding of the public edifices, with all possible magnificence, should be begun at the expense of the state, and a monument erected in the great square of the city, in perpetual memory of the valour of the inhabitants and their glorious defence: That in all the cities of the kingdom an inscription should forthwith be set up, relating the most heroic circumstances of the two sieges, and a medal be struck in its honour, as a testimony of national gratitude. Finally, the Junta promised the same honours and privileges to every city which should resist a like siege with like constancy, and proposed rewards for the best poem and best discourse upon this memorable event; the object being not only to hold up the virtues of the Zaragozans to the present generation and to posterity, but to inflame the hearts of the Spaniards with the same ardent patriotism, the same love of freedom, and the same abhorrence of tyranny.”
♦Falsehoods of the French government.♦
The capitulation was published by the Intruder’s ministers in the Madrid gazette, and inserted in a French journal printed in the same capital. That journal was suppressed by order of Buonaparte as soon as he was informed of this; and it was stated in his bulletin that Lasnes would allow no capitulation, and had only published certain provisions as his[4] pleasure; and that the French possessed themselves of the whole town by force. Had the facts been thus, it would not have derogated in the slightest degree from the heroism of a people who had discharged their duty to the uttermost. But the falsehood is worthy of notice, not only as showing Napoleon Buonaparte’s systematic disregard of truth, but as exemplifying also that want of generosity which peculiarly characterized him, and made him incapable of doing justice in any one instance to the principles, virtues, talents, or even courage, of those by whom he was opposed.
CHAPTER XIX.
INVASION OF PORTUGAL BY MARSHAL SOULT.
♦1809.
The conquest of Portugal was announced by Buonaparte not less confidently than his sentence of subjugation against Zaragoza; and no difficulty was expected in effecting it. It was stated in the bulletins that the rage of the Portugueze against the English was at its utmost height; that they were as indignant at the perfidy of their allies as they were disgusted by their difference of manners and religion, by their brutal intemperance, and by that arrogance which made these islanders odious to the whole continent; that bloody affrays between them were occurring every day, and that the British garrison of Lisbon had embarked in order to abandon a people whom they had deceived and outraged. The real state of things gave some plausibility to these falsehoods; for the French were well informed of the alarm that prevailed in Lisbon, which was indeed such as seemed to justify their vaunts, and might easily ♦Preparations by the English for evacuating Lisbon.♦ enable them to accomplish their purpose. Preparations had been made for evacuating that capital; transports were collected in the Tagus, and notice officially given to the British merchants to hold themselves in readiness for immediate embarkation in case the enemy should advance towards them. These measures were taken early in January, before it was known that Sir John Moore was retreating. As soon as intelligence of his retreat was received, the ♦Address of the Regency to the Portugueze.♦ Regency communicated it to the people. “Portugueze,” they said, “the governors of the kingdom do not mean to deceive you. They themselves announce that the armies of Moore and Romana have retired to the interior of Galicia, leaving our frontiers uncovered; that those frontiers, from their great extent, are exposed to invasion; that the Emperor of the French is accustomed to employ his whole force when he attacks a nation; that his rapid marches give no time for the reunion of troops to act against him on the defensive; and that he presses on to the capital, endeavouring to surprise the government, and to spread anarchy and confusion. This mode of warfare exposes some cities and towns to the ravages of invasion; but such partial ravages are not the ruin of a state. It was in the centre of Portugal that our ancestors sealed our independence with their blood. Knowing this, the governors have directed their measures accordingly; strong passes, formed by nature to be the bulwarks of our liberty, and deep rivers, which cannot without danger be crossed, will be defended in a military manner; and if, in spite of this, the enemy of Europe should proceed to Lisbon, he will find around it a determined people, who will cause the glorious deeds of those times to be remembered, when the walls of that city were the scene of their heroism and their triumph.”
♦State of public feeling at Lisbon.♦
This was wise language, and though it proceeded from a government on which they had little reason to rely, the Portugueze answered the appeal with enthusiasm. The squares were filled, the streets lined with volunteers, practising their evolutions with a zeal deserving better teachers than it found. In these ranks the old man and the stripling stood side by side, ... all pedantry of inches and proportion was forgotten; the strength to carry arms, and the heart to use them, were the only qualifications required. Some were armed with fowling-pieces, some with bayonets screwed upon poles, some with pikes and halberds, which for centuries had hung idly in the hall; bullets were piled up in heaps at every stall, with flints and ramrods; and rusty weapons of all kinds were brought out from the dust to answer the general demand for arms. The children with their flags and wooden guns were playing at soldiers, imitating the discipline of their fathers with that spirit which, if well fostered and directed, would render any country invincible. There was no want of courage, of enthusiasm, or of patriotic feeling; but the people had none to direct and train them, none to whom they could look with confidence.
It was the beginning of February before the news arrived of Sir John Moore s death, and that his army had withdrawn from Spain. Fourteen thousand English troops had been left at Lisbon when that army began its march. Some regiments had advanced to the frontiers, that they might be near the commander-in-chief if he should require to be reinforced, or find it expedient to fall back upon them. These, learning that he had retreated by a different route, and that superior forces were hastening against them, returned by forced marches to the capital. Every thing was in confusion there. One day the cavalry was embarked, the next it was relanded. The sea batteries were dismantled, and their guns shipped for Brazil; those at Fort St. Julien alone were left mounted, as a defensible post if the British troops should be forced to embark precipitately. The women belonging to the army were sent on board. These preparations exasperated the people: they were eager to do whatever should be required of them in the defence of their country: that their own governors wanted courage or ability to stand by them was nothing more than what they expected; but from the English, the old and faithful friends of the Portugueze, they looked for that assistance which England had never refused to Portugal in its time of need. The feeling which this intended abandonment produced was rather anger than fear; and they resented it more as if they felt ashamed for allies long trusted, and always found worthy, than alarmed for the consequences to themselves. A party of the armed populace seized the English Ambassador’s baggage, which was ♦Feb. 24.♦ packed up for removal. The government affected to consider this as the work of French emissaries, though it was evidently a manifestation of the general temper. Threats of condign punishment were denounced against any person who should again offer insult to a British subject; and the people were assured it was only by the powerful assistance of the British army that their national independence could be maintained.
♦M. Soult ordered to enter Portugal from Galicia.♦
The bulletins had announced that Marshal Soult would cross the Minho from Tuy on the 11th of February, reach Porto by the 20th, and Lisbon by the 28th. His instructions were to march along the coast, as the shortest and most convenient line, where, though there was no high road, there were no mountains, and the ways every where practicable for carriages; he was to govern the country as Junot had done, and induce the people as soon as possible to request from Napoleon a King of his appointment. The nominal force allotted him was 50,000 men, and the staff might have sufficed for twice that amount; but the efficient numbers fell far short. They had suffered much in the battle of Coruña; they had suffered also by their rapid advance through so difficult a country in the severest weather; and in means also they were deficient; for though it was their system to take whatever they required, they were now in a province where little was to be found. Plate, jewels, indigo, Peruvian bark, whatever marketable plunder Galicia afforded, these dealers in wholesale rapine shipped from Coruña for France. Articles ♦Difficulty of providing for the French army.♦ of immediate necessity were not so readily obtained. The military hospitals were in want of every thing, even rags for the wounded, for linen here was a luxury not in general use. The mills of that country (which are of the simplest construction, working by a single horizontal wheel) were so small that ninety of them could not supply more flour in a day than was required for the daily consumption of the invading army; and as the invaders could find no Spaniards to serve them, they were obliged to draw not only millers, but bakers and butchers from the regiments. Grain was scarce, Galicia being a grazing province, which at no time produced more than a third of what its own inhabitants required. The summary mode of stripping them by requisitions, to which the French as usual resorted, was in this instance impeded by their own people: for the detachments who were stationed in different parts to keep the communication open, finding how scanty the resources were, and apprehending that if food were sent away they should be left without it, suffered the ♦Mém. sur les Operations du M. Soult, 56, 60.♦ orders of the commissariat to be neglected, and took care of themselves alone.
♦His confidence of success.♦
Marshal Soult, however, entered upon his expedition in full confidence of success. He believed that a great proportion of the British troops had perished by shipwreck during the heavy gales which had prevailed after their embarkation; that they had determined as soon as he should approach Lisbon to blow up the magazines and arsenals, and abandon the place; ♦Intercepted letter to Joseph. Feb. 4.♦ that they talked of nothing more enterprising than a landing at Quiberon; and that this was a mere vaunt, for certainly it would be long before their army would be again in a condition to show itself.
♦Combined plans of the French.♦
The plan which had been laid down for him was well concerted. Marshal Victor was to manœuvre on the side of Badajoz, and send a column in the direction of Lisbon to facilitate the operations against that city. Lapisse was to threaten the frontier between the Douro and Almeida, occupy Ciudad Rodrigo, march upon Abrantes as soon as Soult should have reached ♦Oper. du M. Soult, p. 50.♦ Porto, and when that general was master of Lisbon, Lapisse was then to join Victor, and enter Andalusia, the conquest of the south of Spain as well as Portugal being considered certain. Ney, meantime, was to occupy Galicia, and communicate with the army of Portugal. Leaving him in command of this province, which was said to be subjugated, Soult removed his head-quarters to Santiago, and ordered General Lahoussaye from Mellid to march upon Ribadavia and Salvatierra, obtain intelligence of Romana’s movements, and ascertain what means might be found there for crossing the Minho. General Franceschi at the same time was dispatched with his light cavalry to take possession of Tuy, and examine whether the passage might not best be effected near that city; and General Merle with a division of infantry was sent from Betanzos to Pontevedra to support them. Franceschi ♦Vigo and Tuy occupied by the French.♦ fell in with a body of Spaniards at Redondela, and took from them four guns. Profiting by the panic which the fugitives were likely to impart, he sent a detachment to summon Vigo, and the governor was weak or treacherous enough to surrender a fortified and well-provided town at the first summons of a division of cavalry. Tuy also, which in former wars had been a place of great importance, the strongest upon that frontier, was entered without resistance. Somewhere below this city it was resolved to attempt the passage, and there accordingly the main body of the army was collected.
♦Preparations for crossing the Minho below Tuy.♦
Two rivers, the Lama and Tamboga, which rise in the north-east part of Galicia, unite and form the Minho; but the Sil, which joins it with an equal body of waters, is believed to have been the Minius of the ancients. It is the boundary between Spain and Portugal along a considerable line; upon that line it is never fordable, except at one place above Melgaço, and there only after an unusual continuance of dry weather. There is no bridge over it below the city of Orense, and the Portugueze had been sufficiently aware of their danger to remove all the boats to their own side of the river. Just at its mouth it is joined from the Portugueze side by the river Coura; each stream has formed a bar, and upon an island between these bars the Portugueze had a fortress and a small Capuchine convent. On the Spanish side, immediately at the mouth of the river, Mount St. Thecla rises, a place of great local celebrity, because of an annual pilgrimage, and known to sailors as a sea-mark. ♦Feb. 10.♦ On the other side of this mountain is the little port and town of S. Maria de la Guardia, and thither Soult went with the captain of a French frigate and some seamen who had been prisoners at Coruña, to reconnoitre and consult concerning the passage. Means of transport were found in the fishing-boats of Guardia; but it would have been difficult to double the point in them when laden as they must have been for that service, and they would have been perilously exposed to the fire of the island. He determined, therefore, to carry the boats overland a distance of about three miles to a lake or broad, from which the little river Tamuga issues, and enters the Minho above the village of Campos Ancos. There was great difficulty in removing them, and still more in conveying two pieces of artillery to the same place. Means, however, for transporting three hundred men at once were collected, and the troops appointed for this service were exercised in embarking and disembarking on the lake, where it could be done in safety. The attempt was to be made at high-water, and under favour of the night, though little danger was apprehended from the old frontier fortress of Caminha, in the face of ♦Failure of the attempt.♦ which they were to cross; for the works, originally ill planned and ill situated, had long been neglected, and the French held in equal contempt the place and the people by whom it was garrisoned. However, in order to deceive them, the troops were withdrawn from the opposite shore, and a feint made of marching up the river. ♦Feb. 15.♦ The flotilla descended the Tamuga easily and in good order; but when they came into the great stream the want of sailors was felt. The boats separated; those that were best manned reached the shore; but the Portugueze were upon the alert. General Bernardim Freire, who had been appointed to the command of Porto and of that province, had sent a detachment with two six-pounders to this point. They kept up a fire with good effect; the tide turned; the other boats unable to stem it, or approach the shore, where they could assist their comrades, found it necessary to return; some were sunk, and about forty men were made prisoners.
♦Soult marches by way of Orense.♦
Four days had been consumed in preparations for this vain attempt. It was impossible to wait till the river should have fallen so as to render the passage practicable, for the troops could not be supplied where they were, and they were beginning to suffer from inaction. Soult therefore left General Lamartiniere to command at Tuy, with 350 men, besides 900 who were on the sick list. Some public money had been found in that city, and six-and-thirty field-pieces were left there, besides some guns and ammunition which had been brought from Vigo. It was thought a position of some importance at this time, and this force sufficient to maintain it. He then marched for Orense, making this long circuit to cross the river with less unwillingness because he had received intelligence from Lahoussaye ♦Operations du M. Soult, 73, 80.♦ that the peasantry were in a state of insurrection in consequence of Romana’s proclamations.
♦Romana rouses the Galicians.♦
Romana indeed had not been inactive during the short respite which had been allowed him. Had the French rightly appreciated his unconquerable spirit, and apprehended the effect which such a man was capable of producing upon a brave and generous peasantry, they would have deemed his single destruction of more importance to their cause than the capture of Ferrol ♦Feb. 13.♦ and Coruña. By this time he had collected some 9000 men; to form an efficient army was in his circumstances impossible, utterly destitute as he was of means; but what was of more consequence, he had roused the country; his presence was infinitely important there, and his name and his example hardly less so in other parts of Spain, for in every part the people were encouraged by a persuasion that their countrymen elsewhere were more fortunate than themselves. Every where except upon the spot it was believed by the Spaniards that Romana was at the head of a formidable army; when his troops were so ♦Opinion of his strength.♦ broken, a victorious enemy so close upon him, and his condition so hopeless in all human appearance, that he himself must have considered his escape from captivity, and the death to which he would then have been condemned, as manifestly providential. The Galicians at Lisbon (in which city there were always some thousands of those industrious men) were at that time embodied for the purpose of marching to join him; and the Spanish minister wrote to desire that he would send officers to discipline and take charge of them. The dispatch found him on the Portugueze frontier: he represented in reply that his own force consisted chiefly of new volunteers, so that none of his officers could be spared: he could only send some who belonged to the provincial regiments of Tuy and Compostella. But of men there was no want; for even if they had been less willing to take arms for their country and their cause, mere desperation would have driven them to it. Had the French been better disposed to observe what for the last century at least had been the common humanities of war, it would not have been possible when they were to support themselves as they could by preying upon the countries which they invaded. Free licence in one thing led to it in all, and when resistance was provoked by the most intolerable outrages, it was punished with fire and sword. The little towns of S. Miguel de Zequelinos and ♦Villages burnt by the French.♦ S. Christobal de Mourentan, with their adjacent hamlets, were burnt by the invaders, and more than 2000 persons, who were thus reduced to ruin and deprived of shelter, fled into the Portugueze territory, hoping to find refuge there.
♦Intended plan of co-operation between Romana and Silveira.♦
The Portugueze General, Francisco da Silveira, had taken the command upon that frontier; his force consisted of 2800 regular troops, 2500 militia, and only fifty horse. Romana ♦Feb. 24.♦ had an interview with him at Chaves, while the enemy were preparing for their vain attempt to pass the Minho; and they had resolved upon attacking the French at Tuy, when they learnt that Soult was advancing up the river. They then took up a position for the defence of Chaves, the Spaniards upon the right bank of the Tamega from Monterrey to that fortress, Silveira from the bridge of Villaça to Villarelho. The Portugueze were elated by the failure of the French in their attempt to cross the Minho, which indeed had in some degree dispirited the invaders; and Romana, though fully aware of the inefficiency of his own force, had yet an entire reliance upon the national character and the spirit which had been raised. The secular clergy as well as the monks were zealously aiding him; the monks of S. Claudio, of S. Mamed, and of S. Maria de Melon, and the parochial priest of the latter place, distinguished themselves especially in this good work. His orders were, that all should take arms who were capable of using them, and that the remaining part of the population wherever the French came should abandon their houses, and carry away all provisions.
♦Difference between M. Soult and M. Ney.♦
These orders were very generally obeyed. The small parties of the French were harassed or cut off wherever they appeared; and when Soult approached Ribadavia a brave resistance was made in the village of Franzelos and before the town. The peasantry were not dispersed till great carnage had been made among them; and the invaders upon entering the town found only about a dozen persons remaining there. Detachments were dispatched against the peasantry on all sides, and the greater part of the artillery was sent back to Tuy, as much because of the opposition which was experienced, as owing to the state of the roads. At Orense ♦Operations de M. Soult, 92–99.♦ part of the people remained, and the magistrates[5] submitting of necessity, came out to meet the French. Here Marshal Soult received dispatches from Ney; the contents were kept secret, but it was reported that Ney advised him not to pursue his intention of entering Portugal. The report considerably affected the superior officers, and those especially who, having belonged to Junot’s army, understood the horrible sort of war in which they were again to be engaged. The two Marshals were upon ill terms with each other, and a spirit of dissension was thus introduced into the army.
♦Rout of Romana’s army.♦
After remaining more than a week at Orense, endeavouring by force to suppress the peasants, and by allurements to seduce the higher classes from their duty, Soult resumed his march for Portugal, by way of Monterrey and Chaves. In this line he expected to find a road practicable for artillery, and he thought Romana would be so effectually crushed, that he should meet with no enemy capable of molesting him in that quarter. He had sent a trumpet to that general’s outposts, requesting permission for an officer to pass with a letter to the Marquis. It was granted. The letter merely contained an offer of honours and employments in the Intruder’s name, if Romana would acknowledge him as King, and bring over his troops. Romana having glanced at the contents, bade the bearer return, and say that the only answer to be given to such proposals was from the mouth of the cannon: but the real object of the overture was, that the officer who had been selected for this service might reconnoitre the position; and this the Spaniards, unaccustomed as they were to military precautions, gave him full opportunity of doing. On the following day General Franceschi was ordered to attack their right, which was posted to the south-east of Monterrey, on the heights of Orsona. The rout was so complete, that the actual loss did not amount to more than some 300 slain, and as many prisoners: the French considered the dispersion of the army which ensued as its destruction, and believed that Romana had fixed upon so remote a point as Asturias for the rallying place. While Franceschi was thus employed on the right, Laborde attacked the vanguard of the Portugueze at Villaça, who retired[6] at night, after a good resistance, losing one of their two guns.
♦The French remove their sick to Monterrey.♦
The French had left 200 sick and wounded at Ribadavia; they had removed them to Orense, where nearly 500 were added to the number, and now the whole were ordered to Monterrey, in so insecure a state did Soult consider the country which he was leaving. The old works at Monterrey, he thought, might be so repaired as to render that place tenable, and make it serve as a base for his line of operations. There and in the little town of Verin, on the opposite side of the Tamega, which contained about 2000 inhabitants, scarcely twenty persons had remained; and the French began to doubt the saying of Buonaparte, that men with bayonets could want for nothing. The fugitives, however, had left wine in Verin; and in order to pay some part of his establishment, Soult raised a few thousand pounds by a loan from the troops, ... part of the money which had been thrown away in Sir John Moore’s retreat. General Merle was left to collect his division there, forming the reserve, and the rest of the army advanced down the Tamega, to enter Portugal, before any effectual preparations could be made for resisting them. Marshal Soult was so apprehensive ♦Operations de M. Soult, 107–111, 115.♦ lest the troops should suffer in health, that when they crossed the river by a ford little more than knee deep, he erected two temporary bridges there for the infantry.
♦Chaves.♦
Chaves is the frontier town of Portugal on that side, as Monterrey is that of Spain; both are on the Tamega, a river which, rising in the Sierra de S. Mamed, and watering the fertile vales of Monterrey and Oimbra, enters Portugal at Chaves, turns again into Galicia among the mountains of Barroso, and re-entering Tras os Montes, joins the Douro at S. Miguel de Entre ambos os Rios with a stronger and larger volume of waters than is borne to it by any other of its tributary streams. Chaves is known to have been the Aquæ Flaviæ of the Romans, so named because of its hot springs, and in honour of its founder Vespasian. The baths, when flattery in course of nature was out of date, supplanted the memory of the Emperor; and the place then obtained the more appropriate name of Aquæ Calidæ, which in process of time was abbreviated and corrupted into Chaves. The springs are said to be more efficacious than any other in Portugal; but the buildings which formerly served to accommodate invalids who came to seek relief from these waters were demolished by the Conde de Mesquitella, toward the close of the seventeenth century, in order that the guns might command the approach on that side without impediment: he has been censured for this as having committed a certain mischief for the sake of a frivolous precaution. At that time Chaves was considered a place of importance. The walls were now in many places fallen to decay, and though the citadel was in better repair, both it and the town were commanded from several points, and at short distances.
♦Silveira retires from Chaves.♦
Whatever hopes Silveira might have entertained of opposing the French with the assistance of Romana’s army, he was fully sensible after the rout of the Spaniards that he could neither stand his ground in the vale, nor defend the dilapidated works of the town with men of whom the greater number were half armed and ♦March 7.♦ wholly undisciplined. On the day therefore when the enemy entered Monterrey he gave orders for evacuating Chaves, and withdrew to ♦1809.
March.♦ the heights of Outeiro Joam, and S. Pedro de Agostem. Small as the regular force was which he commanded, Portugal, he well knew, could ill afford to lose it; opportunity for seriously annoying the invaders was likely to occur, but to expose his men now would be vainly and wantonly to sacrifice them. Thus he reasoned; ♦Some mutinous officers resolve to defend it.♦ but the spirit of insubordination was abroad. The peasantry, in ignorant but honest zeal, insisted upon defending the place, and they were supported by certain of his officers, who were actuated some by mere presumption, others by the intention of ingratiating themselves with the enemy, whom they thus should serve. To Chaves therefore these persons returned, and ♦Diario Official. Correio Braziliense, t. iii. p. 110–11.♦ the vanguard which, having been stationed at Villarelho to observe the French, he had ordered to follow him, joined with this party, and prepared to defend the town, in contempt of his authority. If Silveira’s character had been any ways doubtful, or if he had been less esteemed and less beloved by the soldiers, he must at this time have fallen a sacrifice to popular suspicion.
♦Surrender of Chaves.♦
Part of the enemy’s advanced guard came in sight of Chaves the next day. On the following Silveira went into the town, and endeavoured, but in vain, to convince the refractory officers that it was not possible to oppose any effectual resistance. Again on the morrow he entered it, summoned all the superior officers to a council of war, and protested against the resolution ♦March 10.♦ which had been taken, explaining at the same time the grounds of his opinion. All the officers agreed with him except those who by aid of the populace had taken upon themselves the command. By this time the place was invested on three sides, and Soult summoned the general to surrender. Silveira returned a verbal answer, that he had nothing to do with the defence of Chaves, but only with the army which he commanded; he then retired to the Campo de S. Barbara. A letter from Marshal Soult followed him, requiring him to retain the army and govern the province in the Emperor Napoleon’s name, and spare the effusion of blood which must otherwise follow. Silveira replied by word of mouth, that one who had the honour to command Portugueze could give ear to no such proposals; and that he would never listen to any except that of Marshal Soult’s surrender. Meantime a fire was kept up from the place with as little effect as judgement, and the French suffered some loss from the peasantry and from small parties who were on the alert to seize every occasion. A second summons was now sent in; by this time the ardour of the refractory troops had begun to cool, and the self-elected commandant dispatched a messenger to Silveira, requesting orders. Silveira’s reply was, that he who had taken upon himself to defend Chaves contrary to his orders must act for himself. He desired, however, that the officers who were in the place might be directed to bring off the troops during the night, saying that he would cover their retreat by bringing down a greater force upon Outeiro Joam. The movement was made on his part; but he looked in vain for any ♦Diario Off. Cor. Braz. 112.♦ attempt on the part of the garrison, and on the following morning they surrendered prisoners of war.
♦The French establish their hospital there.♦
It was now seen what motives had influenced the promoters of this mock defence, for all the staff-officers offered their services to the Emperor Napoleon; the troops of the line followed their example, but with a very different intention, and took the first opportunity to escape. Marshal Soult could spare no force for marching off his prisoners, nor for securing them at Chaves; he therefore required an oath from the militia and peasants that they would never again bear arms against the French, and dismissed them. This conduct excited murmurs among those who would rather, after the example of their Emperor, have made sure work. If Junot had commanded the army, they said, the place would have been stormed as soon as they appeared before it. Marshal Soult was not a jot more scrupulous than his predecessor; but at this time the treasonable disposition which had been manifested by a few officers led him to suppose that it might be more easy to conciliate the Portugueze than he had found it to coerce their neighbours, and under this persuasion he established his hospital at Chaves; accordingly the sick and wounded were once more removed, and about 1400 were left there with a small force for their protection under the chef de bataillon Messager. The Marshal then announced his appointment as Governor-general ♦Operations de M. Soult, 118–124.♦ of Portugal, ... the rank which Junot (whom the Portugueze called the Duke in partibus) had held, and proceeded on his march.
♦Preparations for defence at Porto.♦
His effective force consisted at this time of 21,000 men, the country through which he had to pass is one of the most defensible in Europe, nor would it be possible any where to find a peasantry better disposed to defend their hearths and altars, nor better able, had there been common prudence to direct their willing strength. But the military profession had fallen in Portugal to the lowest point of degradation; and governments which weaken every thing for the miserable purpose of rendering a corrupt and anile despotism secure, find themselves powerless and helpless at the first approach of danger. The Portugueze in these provinces were aware that invasion would be attempted, though they knew not on what side; and the effect was to produce tumults among the people, insubordination in the soldiers, apprehension, vacillation, and confusion among the chief officers and rulers, and a state of suspicious excitement which predisposed the public mind equally for impulses of furious cruelty or of unreasonable panic. The Bishop of Porto applied to the Regency for succours; but Lisbon at that time was itself as likely to be attacked, nor indeed had the government any troops upon whom the slightest confidence could be placed. How capable the Portugueze were of becoming good soldiers, though well understood by those who knew the people, and indeed not to be doubted by any who had any knowledge of human nature, had not yet been tried: with excellent qualities and the best disposition they were perfectly inefficient now. The Bishop had been offended with Sir Robert Wilson for having passed into Spain with a body of Portugueze troops. The consequences of Sir Robert’s movement to Ciudad Rodrigo had been more important than he himself could have anticipated, and yet in leaving Porto he lost one of the fairest occasions that was ever presented to an active and enterprising spirit. Acting as he did there with the full concurrence of the Bishop, and possessing his confidence, there was time to have disciplined a force which might have impeded the passage of Soult’s army through the strong defiles it had to pass, and have presented a resistance at Porto as successful as that of Acre, and more fatal to the enemy. The means of defence were in abundance, order and intelligence for directing them alone were wanting. The population of the city may be estimated at 80,000, and there were 2000 troops of the line there, 3000 militia, and 15,000 ordenanças; the latter half armed, and the greater part without discipline. A line of batteries was erected round the city and suburbs, extending from the Castle of Queijo on the coast to the village of Freixo on the Douro; the line was about three miles in extent, and between two and three hundred pieces of artillery were mounted there in thirty-five batteries. Had it been well constructed, a large force would have been necessary to defend it: but there had been as little skill in the formation as in the plan; the batteries were without parapets, and the houses and trees which might afford cover to an enemy were not taken down.
♦Advance of the French from Chaves.♦
Soult meantime, as soon as he had entered Chaves, thought to cut off Silveira; but that general frustrated his intent by retiring first to the mountains of Oura and Reigaz, and then to Villa Pouca, where he took a position with the ♦March 13.♦ determination of defending it. The French, however, did not think this little force of sufficient consequence to delay their march; and sending out parties in different directions, in the hope that the report of their entrance spreading on all sides, might reach the Generals who were to co-operate with them, but with whom they had no means of communicating, they proceeded by the Braga road. The resistance which they found evinced the brave spirit of the people, and the incapacity of those who commanded them. The villages were abandoned, stragglers were cut off, they were fired upon by the peasantry from the heights and the cover of crags or trees; any military attempt to impede them was conducted with so little skill or order, that it served only to confirm their contempt for the nation upon whom they had brought and were about to bring such unutterable miseries; but sometimes a handful of Portugueze stood their ground with a spirit like that of their ancestors; and sometimes an individual would rush upon certain death, so he could make sure of one ♦Operations de M. Soult, 128.♦ Frenchman, knowing that if his countrymen would act upon the same principle of life for life, the kingdom would soon be delivered from its unprovoked invaders.
♦Tumults at Braga.♦
Bernardim Freire, not knowing whether the enemy would take the way by Braga or by Villareal, had given orders to secure the positions of Ponte de Cavez and Salto on the latter road, Ruivaens and Salamonde on the other: his head-quarters were at Braga, a city which had long been in a state of strange confusion. The clergy with whimsical indecorum had embodied themselves to serve as a guard of honour for the Primate till their services should be needed for the defence of the place; and part of the exercise of this ecclesiastical corps was with one ♦Dialogo entre Braga e o Porto, 19–21.♦ hand to take off the hat at the Ave Maria bell, and present arms with the other. Men lose their proper influence when they go out of their proper sphere; and the extraordinary circumstances which justified the clergy in taking arms, and even increased their authority while they acted individually either in the ranks or in command, did not save them from ridicule when they thus exposed themselves to it as a body. At any time this would have been an evil; it was especially so when the bonds of authority had been loosened, and envy, cupidity, and hatred were under no restraint. General Freire had neither the talents nor the character to command respect; and on his return from inspecting ♦March 15.♦ the positions at Ruivaens and Salamonde he had been insulted and menaced by the rabble at S. Gens. On the following day, having received intelligence that the enemy were on the way to Ruivaens, he went to the heights of Carvalho d’Este, with the intention of occupying a strong position there, not indeed in any expectation of defeating the enemy, for having just military knowledge enough to see all the difficulties of his situation, he knew himself and the men under his command too well to entertain any hope; but time he thought might be gained for removing the stores from Braga, and whatever else could be saved. It was soon understood that the pass of Ruivaens had been forced, and this intelligence was presently followed by the fearful tidings that the French had won the defiles of Salamonde also. His only thought now was of retiring upon Porto; and having dispatched in the night an order written in pencil to his adjutant-general for removing the military chest from Braga, and advising ♦March 17.♦ Parreiras, who commanded at Porto, of the enemy’s approach, he entered the city in the morning, and found it in a state of complete anarchy. His dispatches had been seized and opened by the mob, and some of his messengers murdered. Conceiving that his only course now was to provide for the defence of Porto, he gave orders accordingly. The populace were of a different opinion; they thought the position at Carvalho d’Este ought to be defended, and considered it either an act of cowardice or of treason to let the French advance without resistance. Freire, however, left the city without receiving any injury, and took the high road ♦Sentença sobre as Atrocidades, &c. Corr. Braz. iv. 521–531.♦ to Porto. At the village of Carapoa the peasants detained him as a traitor; he was rescued by the timely arrival of a commandant of brigade, and proceeded with a guard of twenty men for his protection; but falling in presently with a party of ordenanças, they seized him, and insisted upon taking him back to Braga.
♦General Freire murdered.♦
Meantime the peasantry from all sides had flocked to that city, some retreating before the French, some hastening to meet them; some armed with pikes, those who had fowling-pieces looking for ammunition, all demanding to be embodied and led out against the enemy. At this juncture Baron d’Eben arrived on his retreat, in obedience to the General’s instructions. This Hanoverian nobleman, who was then a major in the British service, and equerry to the Prince of Wales, commanded the second battalion of the Lusitanian legion, and after Sir Robert Wilson’s departure for the frontier had continued to train his men with a diligence and success which won the confidence of the people. The populace crowded round him, seized the reins of his horse, exclaimed that they were determined to defend the city, reviled the General for not leading them against the invaders, and insisted upon his taking the command. Baron d’Eben promised to assist their patriotic exertions in the best manner he could, but said it was necessary that he should first speak with the General. By thus complying with their wishes he hoped to obtain an ascendancy which might enable him to prevent excesses; and for the moment he seemed to have succeeded, for they allowed him to leave the city for that purpose with an escort of an hundred ordenanças. They had not proceeded far before they met Freire on foot between two ruffians, who held him by the arms, and followed by a ferocious mob, who threatened to fire upon D’Eben when he attempted to interfere. Yielding to a rabble whom he was unable to oppose, he turned his horse toward Braga; the rabble then cheered him, and when he reached the house where his quarters were, thither the unfortunate General was brought. Freire called upon him for protection; but when the Baron endeavoured to lead him into the house, one of the infuriated multitude thrust at the General with a sword, and wounded him slightly under D’Eben’s arm. He got, however, within the door, and D’Eben hoping to save him by employing the people, went out and ordered the drum to beat, and the ordenanças to form in line. The mob continued to fire upon the house where Freire was sheltered; and D’Eben then, as the only means of saving him, proposed that he should be put in prison. This was done: and seeing him as he thought safe there, he yielded to the clamours of the people, who required to be led against the enemy. Accordingly he formed them in such order as he could, and set out. Presently a firing was heard in the city, and he was informed that the rabble had dragged out the General from the prison, and murdered him with circumstances of atrocious cruelty. Men, like wild beasts, when once they have tasted blood, acquire an appetite for it. The cry of treason, while it served as a pretext for old enmities and private designs, deceived the ignorant and inflamed the furious; and several persons of rank, as well as many of Freire’s officers, were butchered in the city and in the neighbouring villages.
♦The Portugueze routed before Braga.♦
The command was now a second time forced upon Baron d’Eben by acclamation, and to him the papers of the murdered General were brought. He sealed them up, dispatched them to Porto, and prepared as well as he could to put his tumultuary force in order. The bells from all the churches were ringing the alarm, and the ordenanças were coming in at the call: no preparation had been made for supplying them with food when they were ordered to their stations, nor were there any cartridges which would fit their pieces. A single mould was at length found of the just size, lead was taken from the churches, and bullets were made during the night as fast as this slow process would allow. Meanwhile the French vanguard under Generals Franceschi and Laborde, with the brigade of General Foy, arrived before the position of Carvalho, which a part of this tumultuary force had occupied, about five miles in front of Braga. During three days frequent attacks were made, ♦March 20.♦ and the Portugueze kept their ground. By this time the other divisions of the French had come up, and D’Eben had collected about 23,000 men; 2000 consisted of regular troops, the legion and the Braga militia; of the remainder only 5000 were armed with fire-arms, and most of these had only three rounds of ammunition. Such a multitude was little able to withstand the well-concerted and well-sustained attack of a disciplined force nearly equal in numbers. They were presently routed, and the French having found one of their fellow-soldiers horribly mutilated by some ferocious persons into whose ♦Operations de M. Soult, 142.♦ hands he had fallen, showed little mercy in the pursuit. D’Eben and some of his officers attempted in vain to rally the fugitives, that they might defend the city; the answer to all his exhortations was, that there was no ammunition. The last act of the rabble was to murder those remaining objects of their suspicion whom D’Eben had hoped to save by putting them in prison.
♦The French enter Braga.♦
The French might impose upon the world by representing the dispersion of this tumultuous assemblage as a splendid victory; but they could not deceive themselves concerning the temper of the nation, when upon entering the city they found it deserted by all its inhabitants, and stripped of every thing which could be carried away. If their light vanity could be elated with the vaunt that in the course of eleven days they had won many battles, taken two towns, and forced the passage of a chain of mountains, there was enough to abate their pleasure, if not their pride, in the fact that empty houses were all that they had gained; that they were masters of no more country than their troops could cover, and only while they covered it; and in the ominous apprehension excited by knowing how deeply and how deservedly they were hated by the people whom they had invaded. They consoled themselves with the thought that the rich merchants of Porto would not abandon their property as the people of Braga had done their dwellings; and Marshal Soult was not sparing of professions, that it was with regret he had been compelled to employ force, when his only object in entering Portugal was to deliver that fine country from the ruinous yoke of the English, the eternal enemies of her prosperity. Some of the inhabitants were induced to return, and one was found timid or traitorous enough to take upon himself the office of Corregidor by Marshal Soult’s appointment. The most important business which this wretched instrument of the enemy was called upon to perform was to provide them with food; for which purpose he was instructed to assure his countrymen that if they did not bring in provisions, the French would take them; that in that case the officers could not control the men; it would therefore be for their own ♦Operations, &c. 146–8.♦ interest to act as they were required to do, and for all which they supplied they should receive receipts, payable in a manner afterwards to be explained.
♦They appear before Porto.♦
After resting his army three days, and leaving 700 sick and wounded in the hospitals, Soult proceeded on his march. One division, which ♦March 24.♦ found the bridge over the Ave at Barca da Trofa broken down, and the ford guarded too well to be passed without loss and difficulty, succeeded in winning and repairing the Ponte de S. Justo over the same river, higher up. The Ponte de Ave also was forced by Colonel Lallemand in a second attempt; and the officers who defended it were murdered by their men, who, feeling in themselves no want of courage or of will, imputed every reverse to treachery in their leaders. Without farther opposition the enemy advanced upon Porto, and the Marshal sent in a summons ♦March 28.♦ to the Bishop, the magistrates, and the General, in the usual French style, protesting that the French came not as enemies to the Portugueze, but only to drive away the English; and that the rulers of the city would be responsible before God and man for the blood that would be shed, and the horrors which must ensue, if they attempted to oppose an army accustomed to victory. It was not without danger that the summons could be delivered; and General Foy, who either being deceived by the gestures of a party of soldiers, or mistaking them, advanced to receive their submission, was surrounded and carried into the city. A cry was set up that they had taken Loison; and Foy would have been torn to pieces, in vengeance for Loison’s ♦Operations, &c. 159–168.♦ crimes, if he had not possessed presence of mind enough to lift up both hands, and thus prove to the people that he was not their old one-armed enemy.
♦Oliveira murdered.♦
The persons in authority had sufficient influence to save his life, and put him in confinement for security; but they were unable to protect ♦Vol. ii. p. 64.♦ Luiz de Oliveira, who having been deservedly thrown into prison in June, had been left there as if forgotten, with that iniquitous neglect of justice which had long been usual in Portugal. He was murdered and dragged through the streets by the rabble; and a few other victims perished in this last explosion of popular fury. The Bishop, who appears to have been at that time in the battery of S. Francisco encouraging the troops, saw now what had been represented to him vainly, though in time, that the works were too extensive, as well as too weak. He had been advised to strengthen them by throwing up works en flèche, to place 1500 of the best troops in their rear, as a reserve for supporting the point which should be attacked, and to throw up a second line close under the suburb, and have the houses loop-holed, in preparation for that sort of defence which the inhabitants were in a temper to have maintained, had there been spirits to have directed them, as at Zaragoza. None of these things had been done; and the Bishop, sensible when too late of ♦The bishop leaves the city.♦ the errors which had been committed, and the value of the time which had been lost, and perceiving also too many proofs of that confusion which insubordination always produces, crossed to the left bank of the Douro during the night, leaving the ill-planned and ill-constructed works to be defended by an inadequate force and an inefficient general. All night the bells of all the churches were ringing the alarm; the churches were filled with supplicants, the streets with a multitude, who wasted in furious demonstrations that strength which should have been reserved for the defence of their streets, and houses, and chambers. At midnight a storm of wind and rain and thunder broke over the city, and while the lightnings flashed above, a useless discharge of cannon and musketry was kept up by the Portugueze along the line, at which the enemy gazed as at a spectacle, for not a shot could reach them. Soult had given orders that the works should be attacked at six on the ensuing morning, which was Good Friday. Napoleon and Glory was the word. The storm ceased ♦Operations, &c. 168–9.♦ about three, and the attack was postponed till seven, that the soil might have time to dry, so as not to impede the troops in their movements.
♦Porto taken.♦
General Parreiras before the attack was made had lost all hope of opposing a successful resistance. Yet when the enemy attacked the Prelada, a quinta, or country-seat, about a mile from the city, where the lines formed an angle, they did not force it without a loss of 500 men, including two chefs de bataillon. Having forced it, they flanked the greater part of those troops who did their duty. The right and left were attacked also; a panic soon spread: in less than an hour after the commencement of the action, the General seeing that all was lost, had crossed the bridge, and the French were in the town. A tremendous carnage ensued; the cavalry charging through the streets, and slaughtering indiscriminately all whom they overtook: for an officer who accompanied General Foy the preceding day had been killed, having attempted to defend himself when the General surrendered, and the circumstance of his death was made a pretext for this butchery. But the greatest destruction took place in the passage of the river; the inhabitants rushed to the bridge of boats in such numbers, that the first pontoon sank under their weight; the crowd from behind still pressed on, forcing those who were foremost into the stream, and themselves in like manner precipitated in their turn; the French meantime keeping up a fire of grape-shot upon the affrighted and helpless fugitives. From three to four thousand persons are supposed to have perished thus; and not satisfied with this, the enemy kept up a fire from the most commanding points upon those who were endeavouring to cross in boats. Of the numbers who were thus killed a large proportion consisted of women and children. But in this miserable day neither sex, age, nor innocence could obtain mercy, nor manly and heroic courage command respect from the inhuman enemy. The men, and they were not few, who did their duty, singly or in small parties where a handful of brave Portugueze had got together, were put to the sword. About two hundred, whom the French praised in reality when they intended to depreciate them by calling them the most fanaticised, collected near the Cathedral, and fought till the last man was cut down. The scenes which ensued were more odious and more opprobrious to humanity than even the horrors of this carnage; the men, however, were not allowed to commit enormities of every kind till they were glutted, as they had been at ♦Col. Jones’s Acc. of the War, i. 195.♦ Evora. Marshal Soult exerted himself to check their[7] excesses with an earnestness which, even if it proceeded from mere motives of policy, must be recorded to his honour. And he had some officers to second him with true good will in this good work; for though the miscreants were with him who had disgraced their country and their profession by the atrocities which they had perpetrated or permitted at Evora and Leiria, there were others who abhorred the iniquitous service in which they were engaged, and who were members of a secret society, the object of which was to throw off Buonaparte’s yoke, and restore peace to France and Europe.
♦Soult remains at Porto.♦
Complete as his success had hitherto been, and little as it had cost him, Marshal Soult did not find it advisable to push on for Lisbon. He now knew what was the spirit of the nation, and he was without any intelligence from Lapisse and Victor, whose movements were to be combined with his. He applied himself therefore to securing what he had won, and endeavoured to conciliate the Portugueze, and raise a party among them in favour of the ambitious designs which, like Junot, he appears now to ♦1809.
April.♦ have formed. For this purpose a newspaper was published at Porto a week only after its capture, and the first number opened with a panegyric upon the conqueror because he had not totally destroyed the city. While the streets were yet stained with the blood of the carnage, and there was mourning in every house, and bodies were every day cast up by the river and along the sea-beach, ... while it was stated officially in the Madrid Gazette that the whole garrison had been put to the sword, ... Marshal Soult was panegyrized for clemency! The dreadful catastrophe which Porto had suffered, said his writers, might serve as a warning for all who undertook great enterprises without calculating the means, or looking on to the end. But amid the horror with which so severe an example affected every feeling heart, there was abundant matter of consolation for minds capable of weighing things in the balance of philosophy. Towns carried by assault had invariably, among the most civilized nations, paid with their total destruction the penalty of their contumacy. This was the fate which Porto had had to apprehend; and from this it had been spared by a hero who always listened to the voice of mercy, and in whose heart valour and humanity contended for the ascendance!
♦Disposition of the inhabitants.♦
The Portugueze are not so light a people as to be thus easily deceived. They had seen the tender mercies of the French too recently to be duped by their professions, and not more than a sixth part of the inhabitants remained in Porto under their government. If this proof of their ♦Operations, &c. 183.♦ disposition augured ill for the French, it lessened the difficulty of providing for the city, which was an object of no small anxiety to the captors. They who had undertaken to supply the troops went into the country by night to make their bargains with persons whom they could trust, ♦Do. 206.♦ and the supplies were brought in darkness at a stated hour to a stated place; for if any person had been seen engaged in thus administering to the enemy, his life would have been the penalty of his treason. When the English property was put up to sale, not a person would bid for it: an individual at last ventured to offer about a third part of its value for certain goods, but before four-and-twenty hours had elapsed he absconded, either for the fear of being marked as one who had dealt with the French, or unable ♦Operations, &c. 205.♦ to bear the shame of having been the only Portugueze in Porto who had thus disgraced himself.
♦Marshal Soult’s views respecting the Liberals and the Jews.♦
There were, however, in Portugal, as in every country, men who have no other principle than the determination of promoting their own interest by any means; and there were some few who entertained that abject and superstitious faith in Buonaparte’s fortune which his partizans and flatterers every where endeavoured to promote. Some also there were who, in their vehement abhorrence for the besotted despotism and the filthy superstition which degraded their country, had renounced their national feeling and their Christian faith. The scheme of Soult’s policy was to make such persons (whom he supposed more numerous than they were) stand forward as a party, engage them in the irremissible offence of swearing fidelity to Napoleon and obedience to his representative, and employ them in corrupting their countrymen, and in watching and subjugating those whom they could not seduce. For this purpose he had his emissaries in the capital and in the provinces to spread disaffection by representing the abuses and evils both of the civil and ecclesiastical system, ... abuses which it was hardly possible to exaggerate, and evils which in themselves and in their consequences were only more tolerable and less pernicious than the iron tyranny which Buonaparte would have substituted in ♦Campaign of 1809 in the Peninsula, 15. Do. Appendix A.♦ their place. Marshal Soult had also conceived the strange intention of making the Jews, whose number in Portugal he estimated at 200,000, avow their religion under the protection of France, and hold upon an appointed day a general feast for the success of the Emperor’s arms. It is probable that he overrated them as greatly as he mistook their character; but if they had been mad enough to act in conformity to his wishes, a general massacre would have been the certain consequence. For the old inhuman prejudice against this persecuted race, when yielding to wiser laws and the spirit of the age, had been revived by the manner in which Buonaparte courted them. It was observed by some of the Spanish journalists, that when the Turks were the terror of Christendom, they had derived their information from the Jews, who were their instruments every where; and the promise of Buonaparte to abolish the Inquisition provoked only from the Spaniards the remark that this measure must have been suggested by some Israelite of the Sanhedrim.
♦His hopes of becoming King of Northern Lusitania.♦
Among the Portugueze who, from the perversion of good feelings, or the original prevalence of base ones, were open to corruption, persons were found to forward the design which Soult had now formed of becoming King of Northern Lusitania. Buonaparte’s formation of new principalities and kingdoms for his brothers and favourites had made the generals of this new Alexander suppose that his conquests would be divided among them, and a petty kingdom under this title had been carved out in the secret treaty of Fontainebleau. A deputation of twelve principal inhabitants of Braga, as they were represented to be, waited upon the Marshal, and published in his gazette an account of their interview with him, and an address in consequence to the Portugueze people. They assured their countrymen that Marshal Soult had conversed with them at great length upon the produce, commerce, and interests of the province between the rivers, in a manner which formed a striking contrast to the conduct of their old government. That government, they said, had been indifferent about all things except the raising of its revenues. The flight of the Prince Regent amounted to a voluntary abdication of the throne, and a happy futurity might now be anticipated under a better dynasty. The House of Braganza, said these traitors, no longer exists. It is the will of Heaven that our destinies should pass into other hands; and it has been the peculiar favour of Divine Providence to send us a man exempt from passions, and devoted to true glory alone, who desires to employ the force entrusted to him by the great Napoleon only for our protection and deliverance from the monster of anarchy which threatened to devour us. Why do we delay to assemble round him, and proclaim him our father and deliverer? Why do we delay to express our anxiety to see him at the head of a nation, of whose affections he has made so rapid a conquest? The sovereign of France will lend a gracious ear to our supplications, and will rejoice to see that we desire one of his lieutenants for our King, who, in imitation of his example, knows how to conquer and to pardon.
Such an address could not have been published in a journal which was under French superintendence unless it had been in unison with Soult’s designs. On another occasion, when he gave audience to a second deputation from Braga, and to the civil, religious, and military authorities of Porto, the obsequious traitors requested that till the supreme intentions of the Emperor should be ascertained they might be allowed to swear fidelity to his most worthy representative, who had so many claims upon the love, respect, and gratitude of the Portugueze. The Marshal expatiated as usual in reply upon the felicities which were about to be showered upon Portugal under a French master: “As to what concerns myself,” he added, “I feel obliged by the frank expressions which you have used relating to my person; but it does not depend upon me to answer them.” He had, however, depended so much upon realizing this dream of ambition, that proclamations were prepared, announcing him as King. It was fortunate for the parties concerned that they went no farther; for one of his staff, who was supposed to be a principal agent in the scheme, was recalled to Paris, and Buonaparte, addressing him by name at a grand levee, said to him, “Take care how ♦Col. Jones’s Hist. of the War, i. 199, note.♦ you draw up proclamations! My empire is not yet sufficiently extended for my generals to become independent. One step farther, and I would have had you shot.”
♦He visits the church of N. Senhor de Bouças.♦
Expecting no such impediment to his hopes, the “worthy representative” of Buonaparte proceeded, as his master had done in Egypt, to show his attachment to the religion of the people whom he came to govern. There is a famous crucifix, known by the name of Nosso Senhor de Bouças, in the little town of Matosinhos, upon the coast, about a league from Porto. According to tradition it is the oldest image in Portugal, being the work of Nicodemus; and though the workman neither attempted to represent muscle nor vein, it is affirmed that there cannot be a more perfect and excellent crucifix. Antiquaries discovered another merit in it, for there has been a controversy concerning the number[8] of nails used in the crucifixion, and in this image four are represented, agreeing with the opinion of St. Gregory of Tours, and the ♦D. Rodrigo da Cunha, Cat. dos Bispos do Porto, pp. 393, 4.♦ revelation made to the Swedish St. Bridget. The sea cast it up, and its miraculous virtue was soon attested by innumerable proofs. One of the arms was wanting when it was found; the best sculptors were employed to supply this deficiency; but in spite of all their skill not one of them could produce an arm which would fit the place for which it was designed. One day a poor but pious woman, as she was gathering shell-fish and drift-wood for fuel, picked up upon the beach a wooden arm, which she, supposing that it had belonged to some ordinary and profane image, laid upon the fire. The reader will be at no loss to imagine that it sprung out of the flames, ... that the neighbours collected at the vociferations of the woman, ... that the priests were ready to carry it in procession to the church of N. Senhor; and that the moment it was applied to the stump whereto it belonged, a miraculous junction was effected. Our Lord of Bouças became from that time one of the most famous idols in Portugal; and on ♦Corografia Portugueza, t. i. 361.♦ the day of his festival five-and-twenty thousand persons have sometimes been assembled at his church, coming thither in pilgrimage from all parts.
To this idol Marshal Soult thought proper to offer his devotions. He and his staff visited the church, and prostrating themselves before the altar, paid, says his journal, that tribute of respect and reverence which religion requires from those who are animated with the true spirit of Christianity. “There cannot,” continued the hypocritical traitor who recorded this mummery, ... “there cannot be a more affecting and interesting spectacle, than to see a Great Man humbling himself in the presence of the King of kings and Sovereign Disposer of empires. All the inhabitants of Matosinhos who were present at this religious solemnity were wrapt in ecstasy!” The French Marshal testified his great concern at hearing that the plate and jewels and ornaments of the church had been carried off; and he promised the rector that he would offer two large silver candlesticks to Nosso Senhor, and dedicate a silver lamp to him, and assign funds to keep it burning night and day, and, moreover, that he would double the stipend of the rector and the sacristan. “Let this fact,” said his penman, “be contrasted with what we have been told respecting the irreligion of the French troops and their leaders! It is time to open our eyes, and to acknowledge the hand of Providence in the events which have befallen us. How fortunate are we that Heaven has destined us to be governed by a hero who possesses a heart disposed to be deeply and warmly impressed with the majesty of our holy religion, and who aspires only to make it shine forth with new and never-fading splendour! Let the calumniators be confounded, and the timid be tranquil! Our hopes ought to be re-animated now that they have obtained a support, which, resting on religion, and lifting its head above the storms, promises them entire realization.”
Not a word of restoring the spoils of the church had been said by Marshal Soult; ... his promise of the lamp and the funds for the oil, and the increase of salaries, was confirmed by a decree in which he dedicated the lamp, assigned a revenue of sixteen milreas for its support, and doubled the incomes; as far as the decree went he performed his promise ... and no farther. His situation, indeed, was becoming too perilous to allow him time for the farce of superstition. On one hand the events in Galicia alarmed him, ... on the other he learnt that the English, instead of evacuating Lisbon, were expecting a fresh army there; and that General Beresford was already arrived, with the title of Field-marshal conferred upon him by the Prince of Brazil, to take the command of the Portugueze ♦1809.
March.♦ army, and reorganize it. He had experienced the courage and the patriotism of the Portugueze, and knew that discipline was all they wanted to make them as formidable in the field as their forefathers. From the centre of Spain he could expect little assistance, so rapidly had the Spaniards re-formed their armies; ... and from France itself no reinforcements were to be looked for, for Buonaparte was even obliged to withdraw troops from the Peninsula, that he might march against the Austrians.
♦Chaves retaken by Silveira.♦
The first ill news which reached him was from Chaves. Bernardim Freire had directed Silveira, as soon as the enemy should enter Portugal, to retire by the passes of Salamonde and Ruyvaens, and so join the main force assembled for the defence of Portugal. The spirit of insubordination which broke out at Chaves seems to have frustrated this purpose. Silveira waited till the last in the vicinity of that place, hoping to bring off the garrison when they should feel that it was untenable: failing in that hope, he found it necessary to fall back before the French in a different direction to Villa Pouca. The enemy, believing that his little army was what they called demoralized, had contented themselves with making a strong reconnoissance there under General Lorges, for the double motive of deceiving the Portugueze with regard to their intended march, and intimidating the country; then pursued their way, holding the force which they left behind them in as much contempt as that which they advanced to attack. But no sooner had Silveira ascertained their movements than he returned to his position at S. Barbara; and when the last party of the enemy’s cavalry had withdrawn from observing him to follow the main body, he ♦March 20.♦ entered Chaves, easily overcoming the little resistance which the garrison were able to make. Messager, the commandant, withdrew into the fort, where the Portugueze, having no artillery, blockaded him for four days: on the fifth they prepared to take it by escalade; the French then proposed to capitulate, on condition of marching out with arms and baggage to join Marshal Soult. Five minutes were allowed them to determine whether they would surrender prisoners at war, and they were glad to secure their lives by submitting to that condition. About 1300 men were thus taken, and 114 Spaniards whom Soult had left there as prisoners were restored to liberty. Silveira then followed the steps of the enemy. Hearing that they had entered Braga, his intention was to cut off their garrison there, as he had done at Chaves; but while he was arranging measures for this, he learned the fate of Porto, and marched in consequence toward Villa Real. On the way he was informed that the enemy intended to enter Tras os Montes by way either of Canavezes or of a little town known by the awkward name of Entre ambos os rios, from its position near the point where the Tamega falls into the Douro. Immediately he occupied both places, repulsed the French in two attempts upon the former, and reaching Amarante himself just as a party of the enemy, having burnt the villages of Villa Meam, Manhufe, and Pildre, were advancing ♦Diario Official. Corr. Braz. iii. 113, 115.♦ to take possession of it, he made them retire to Penafiel, and entered that city the next day on their withdrawing from it.
♦Proceedings at Coimbra.♦
Silveira’s activity raised the hopes of the Portugueze: it was said in Porto that he would soon take his coffee in that city, and this was repeated to Soult, who desired Silveira might be assured that he would provide him with sugar for it. The jest is said to have kept up ♦Operations, &c. p. 199.♦ the spirits of those Portugueze who had consented to serve the French interest. But the cup which they had prepared for themselves was one which, drug it as they might, nothing could sweeten. Every sacrifice and every success on the part of their countrymen, every act of heroism and virtue, every manifestation of the old national spirit, was a reproach to them; and tidings which would have elated and rejoiced their hearts if they had not fallen from their duty, brought to them feelings only of fear, and shame, and self-condemnation. The Portugueze were so persuaded of their own strength, and the experience even of the preceding year had so little abated that persuasion, that they had considered it impossible for the French to enter Porto, or had expected at least that the city would have made a long and glorious resistance. And yet the tidings of its capture, with all the shameful and all the dreadful circumstances that attended it, occasioned no consternation. That miserable event was known at Coimbra on the following day; it was known also that no means had been taken for removing the boats and destroying the bridge; that the part which had been broken by the crowd of fugitives had speedily been repaired by the enemy, and that their advanced parties had proceeded as far as Grijo. It was considered certain that they would lose no time in occupying so important a city as Coimbra and the intermediate country, one of the finest and most fertile parts of the kingdom. Colonel Trant, who commanded there, knew how inadequate his means were to prevent this; but he knew that efficient aid might soon be expected from England, that much might sometimes be done by mere display, and by the judicious use of a scanty force, and that if the evil could be but for a little while delayed, it might ultimately be averted.
The force at his disposal consisted of the Coimbra militia and a detachment of volunteers who had enlisted for the army, in all 500 men; but to these an academical corps of 300 was immediately added, the students offering themselves with that alacrity, and displaying that promptitude and intelligence, which belong to youth in their station. The people began to recover confidence when they knew that one party from this little force took the road to Aveiro and another that to Sardam, the two directions in which Coimbra might be approached from Porto. Report magnified the designs of Colonel Trant and the means which he possessed; and the double good was produced of encouraging the Portugueze and delaying the progress of the French, who, if they advanced to Coimbra, would have commanded the resources of a fertile country, have approached nearer to the armies with which their operations were to be combined for effecting the conquest of the kingdom; and moreover, in case of failure, would have had an easier retreat open through Beira. A most timely supply was obtained from the magistrates of Aveiro, who having consulted the Camara of Coimbra, placed the public money which had been collected in their city at Colonel Trant’s disposal, and also a considerable magazine of maize and other grain, ... both being thus secured from the enemy, into whose hands they must otherwise have fallen, if even a slight detachment had been sent thither. The fugitives from Porto and from that part of the country which the invaders occupied found in Coimbra all the assistance that could be afforded, and were thus prevented from carrying the panic farther; and the soldiers who had escaped the butchery were refitted and re-embodied as they came in. Colonel Trant offered the command to Baron d’Eben; but the Baron knew by experience what it was to command a hasty and tumultuous force, and chose rather to employ himself in re-collecting his battalion of the Lusitanian Legion. It was offered also to the Portugueze Brigadier Antonio Marcellino da Victoria; but he had witnessed the fate of Freire, and desired to accompany Trant as a simple volunteer. In addition to the force which was thus augmenting, two squadrons of regular troops unexpectedly arrived in Coimbra, with their commander, the Visconde de Barbacena: they had been ordered in a different direction; but being mostly natives of the Campo de Coimbra, they had insisted upon going to defend their own immediate country, and the Viscount deemed it better to obey their inclinations than withstand a spirit of insubordination to which he might too probably have fallen a sacrifice. Colonel Trant removed them as soon as possible out of the city, and separating them from the other troops, stationed them in advance at Mealhada. The Commander-in-chief being duly apprized of what had occurred, gave orders that these troops should remain under his command; and the men, whose intentions had been good when their conduct was most irregular, were thus brought again into the line of duty.
♦Col. Trant takes a position upon the Vouga.♦
With this motley force, a week after the capture of Porto had been known, Colonel Trant set forth. Taking the students’ corps under his ♦April 6.♦ own command, he advanced toward Aveiro, and effected the important purpose of securing the boats and provisions in that port. The right ♦1809.
April.♦ column, under Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell (who had escaped from the carnage at Porto), he sent to the bridge of Vouga. That river (the Vacca of the ancients) rises in the Serra de Alcoba, and having received the Portugueze Agueda, which brings an equal volume of waters, enters the Lake of Aveiro, and forms a harbour there not less beautiful than singular: it is separated from the sea by two long wings of sand, and if the entrance were but good, would be perhaps the most commodious and capacious in Europe. A party of the enemy had crossed by the bridge of Vouga, and recrossed by that of Marnel, leaving in all the intermediate places the accustomed marks of their sacrilegious barbarity. They were part of a considerable cavalry force, under General Franceschi. For having taken Porto, and being masters of the Douro, the French, accustomed to consider military posts and the course of rivers as every thing, and the people as nothing in the scale, held that the country as far as the Mondego was already theirs by right of conquest; and Franceschi’s division would have advanced to occupy Coimbra if he had not thought that the force opposed to him was respectable both in numbers and quality. Its number, which the enemy supposed to be from ten to twelve thousand, did not in reality exceed 2000, even after two companies of grenadiers had joined them from Guarda. They had been stationed there under Camp-Marshal Manoel Pinto Bacellar’s command; but choosing to act upon their own judgement in those days of general insubordination, they compelled their officers to conduct them to the Vouga, as the place where they might soonest be enabled to act against the invaders of their country. With regard to the quality of this little force, the French supposed that there were English troops with it, and a great proportion of English officers. A panic seized Campbell’s men; they fled towards Coimbra; some of the fugitives joined Trant, and added in no slight degree to the anxieties of his situation by the alarm which they communicated. The academical corps indeed, under his immediate command, was one in which he placed just confidence; but the fatal consequence of exposing the flower of a nobility and gentry like ordinary lives had been severely felt in England during the great rebellion; and the Portugueze remembered an example still more ruinous of the same prodigality, when with their King Sebastian they lost every thing except their honour. He addressed them therefore on this occasion; told them they would have to contend against superior numbers, and hinted at the reproaches which he might bring upon himself if he should lead so large a portion of the illustrious youth of Portugal to destruction. The address produced the animating effect for which it was intended, and they answered him with a general exclamation of Moriamur pro Rege nostro.
♦Cruelties of the French.♦
Fortunately the enemy gave him time; they were delayed by the expectation of Victor’s advance, by Silveira’s movements, and by ill news from Galicia; and Trant profited by their inactivity to guard the bridges, remove the boats, and bring over the flocks and herds of that pastoral country from the northern bank, the owners assisting in this the more readily when they saw some of their cattle seized by the French. Whether it were that Marshal Soult despaired of conciliating the people whom he came to invade and enslave, or if the system of severity was more congenial to his own temper as well as to that of the tyrant whom he served, he endeavoured at this time to intimidate them by measures as atrocious as those which his predecessor Junot had pursued. Such Portugueze as he suspected of communicating either with Trant or Silveira were hung from the trees along the road side, with or without proof, and their bodies left to putrefy there, all persons being forbidden to bury them. Deep as was the detestation of such enemies which this conduct excited, there were other actions at this time which excited, if possible, a stronger feeling of indignant abhorrence. A party of disbanded militia, with a Portugueze Lieutenant-Colonel at their head, surprised a chef d’escadron near the village of Arrifana, and killed him and three dragoons of his escort. He was one of the Lameth family, so noted in the first stage of the French revolution; and having been Soult’s aide-de-camp, had served in the Peninsula with a zeal which could never have been employed in a worse cause. Having been a favourite with the commander and his staff, it was determined to take vengeance for his death; it had taken place in a part of the country of which they had military possession, and they thought proper therefore to consider it as an ♦See vol. i. p. 161, and vol. ii. p. 134.
Operations, &c. p. 196.♦ action not conformable to the laws of war. General Thomieres, who had been accustomed to such services, was sent to inflict what the French called an exemplary and imposing chastisement, ... not upon the individuals concerned, for they were doing their duty elsewhere in defence of their country, but upon the people of Arrifana indiscriminately. A French detachment accordingly entered the village at daybreak, ♦April 17.♦ seized twenty-four of the inhabitants, marched them into a field, and, having tied them in couples back to back, fired upon them till they were all killed. The rest of the villagers, ... brethren and sisters, parents, wives, and children, were compelled to be spectators of this butchery; the village was then set on fire, and many of the women and girls carried into an Ermida or chapel, and there[9] violated.
♦Positions of the French and Portugueze on that side.♦
Satisfied with keeping the country north of the Vouga in subjection, and believing that Trant’s corps consisted of ten or twelve thousand men, the enemy made no attempt to pass that river; Franceschi, who commanded the cavalry, having his head-quarters at Albergaria Nova, and Thomieres at Villa de Feira, where, and at Ovar and Oliveira d’Azemeis, the infantry were stationed. Trant, cautious of exposing his real weakness, advanced only his scanty cavalry to the Vouga; the foot were quartered in Sardam and Agueda, flourishing and industrious villages, which are separated only by the Agueda, a small but navigable stream. The road from thence toward Porto passes through a pine forest, and there, profiting by the broken ground, he had fortified a position, where the enemy could have derived no advantage from their cavalry if they should pass the Vouga. From hence he communicated with Silveira, and even with Porto itself, where there were some citizens ready to expose themselves to any hazard in the hope of serving the national cause.
♦Romana captures the garrison at Villafranca.♦
To gain time in this quarter while a British force was soon and surely expected, was to gain every thing: and Marshal Soult was not in a situation to turn his undivided attention in that direction. Tidings for which he was little prepared, even after what he had experienced of the Galician spirit, came upon him from Galicia. The news of Romana’s defeat before Monterrey had been circulated over that province with such exaggerations as were deemed likely to intimidate the people. The French affirmed that Romana himself had been taken ♦1809.
March.♦ prisoner; they fired salutes and made rejoicings for their victory, and proceeded even to the mockery of offering thanksgiving in the churches. Romana meantime collected and rested his harassed troops at La Puebla de Sanabria: in spite of all the enemy’s artifices his real situation was soon known to the Spaniards, and deputations from some town or village came every day to this faithful General, assuring him that the Galicians were and would continue true to their country. Some 3000 new levies from Castille joined him there, and finding himself more secure and more hopeful than at any time since he had taken the command, he resolved upon striking a blow against the enemy upon the line of posts which they occupied from Astorga to Villafranca. The walls of the former city, ancient as they were, were not to be won without artillery; but Villafranca had no other fortress than the old castle or palace of the Marqueza de Astorga, which the French had occupied; and there he determined to attack them, moving first upon Ponferrada, where he made some prisoners, and recovered a good quantity of corn, several four-pounders, and one dismounted twelve-pounder, part of his own stores and artillery. Having remounted the larger gun, Romana dispatched his Camp-marshal D. Gabriel de Mendizabal to attack the garrison at Villafranca. That officer’s first care was to get between them and Galicia, while the commander-in-chief intercepted their retreat towards Astorga: for this purpose he proceeded to Cacabelos, ♦March 17.♦ and sent one detachment round by the right to occupy the bridge at the other end of the town, while another filed round by the left to join it there; every horseman taking up a foot soldier behind him to ford the Valcarce, and the smaller river which falls into it. Mendizabal, with the remainder of the troops, advanced along the road. His advanced parties drove in the French at all points, till they retired to the castle. The twelve-pounder was brought up; but the Spaniards found that the French fired securely from the old fortification while they themselves were exposed; upon this they entered, and, with fixed bayonets, advanced to storm the castle. Mendizabal was at their head; a ball passed through his clothes without wounding him. He summoned the enemy to surrender, and upon their hesitating what answer to return, repeated the summons with a threat, that if they refused, every man should be put to the sword. The white flag was then hoisted, and a negotiation begun, which the French were conducting with a view to gain time, till the Spanish commander cut it short, by allowing them a quarter of an hour to surrender at discretion. Upon this they submitted; Mendizabal then, as an act of free grace, permitted the officers to keep their horses and portmanteaus, and the men their knapsacks; and the colonel-commandant of the French, in returning thanks for this generosity, complimented him upon his good fortune in having captured the finest regiment in the Emperor Napoleon’s service. The prisoners were about 800. The Spaniards lost two officers and thirty men, eighty-two wounded. The result of the success was, that the Bierzo was cleared of the French, who fell back from the neighbouring part of Asturias upon Lugo, there to make a stand, supported by their main force, which was divided between Santiago, Coruña, and Ferrol.
♦Efforts of the Galicians.♦
Marshal Ney had still a predominant force in Galicia after Soult’s army was departed; there were garrisons in every town which was sufficiently important, either for its size or situation, to require one, and the French had military possession of the province. But they had yet to subdue the spirit of the people; and the Galicians, who had no longer an example of panic and disorder before their eyes, carried on the war in their own way. Captain M’Kinley in the Lively frigate, with the Plover sloop under his command, arrived off the coast to assist them. He discovered none of that apathy for their own country, none of that contented indifference who was to be their master, none of that sullen and ungrateful dislike of the English, of which the retreating army had complained so loudly; he heard from them only expressions of gratitude to the British government and praise of the British nation; he perceived in them the true feelings of loyalty and patriotism, and saw in all their actions honest, enthusiastic ardour, regulated by a cool and determined courage. The invaders attempted, by the most unrelenting severity, to keep them down. On the 7th of March a party of French entered the little towns of Carril and Villa Garcia, murdered some old men and women in the streets, set fire to the houses of those persons whom they suspected of being hostile to them, and then retreated to Padron. To lay waste villages with fire, abandon the women to the soldiery, and put to death every man whom they took in arms, was the system upon which the French under Marshals Ney and Soult proceeded. Such a system, if it failed to intimidate, necessarily recoiled upon their own heads; and the thirst of vengeance gave a character of desperation to the courage of the Galicians. About an hundred French were pillaging a convent, when Don Bernardo Gonzalez, with two-and-thirty Spaniards, fell upon them, and did such execution while the enemy were in disorder and encumbered with their plunder, that only sixteen escaped. During three days the French attempted to destroy the peasants of Deza and Trasdira; the men of Baños and Tabieros came to aid their countrymen, and the invaders at length retreated with the loss of 114 ♦March 9.♦ men. A party from Pontevedra entered Marin: here the Lively and the Plover opened their fire upon them, and as they fled from the English ships, their officers fell into the hands of the peasantry. In this kind of perpetual war the French were wasted; a malignant fever broke out among them, which raged particularly at their head-quarters in Santiago, and many who had no disease died of the fatigue which they endured from being incessantly harassed, and kept night and day on the alarm.
♦Barrios sent into Galicia.♦
D. Manuel Garcia de Barrios, who held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, had arrived in Galicia early in March with credentials from the Central Junta authorising him to take such measures as he might deem expedient for its recovery, ... and this was all with which the government could furnish him. He had, however, two brave and able officers under him, D. Manuel Acuña and D. Pablo Morillo, then a young man, who had already distinguished himself ♦Vol. ii. p. 460.♦ upon the Tagus. These officers took the coast and the interior in this military mission, while Barrios took the southern part of the province; and they communicated with Romana and Silveira. Barrios was with the latter General when the French approached Chaves, and, being prevented by an accident from leaving the town with him, was shut in there during its short siege. Aware that if the enemy recognised him they would probably put him to death, or at best compel him to choose between imprisonment and taking the oaths to the Intruder, he escaped over the walls when they entered the place, and remained for some days secreted in a cottage, suffering severely from a fall and from want of food, and having lost every thing, even his papers. He made his way, however, to the Valle Real de Lobera, where he thought Romana would have taken some measures for raising men; and there he found the spirit which he expected. His report of himself and of his commission was believed, though he had no credentials to produce: a Junta was formed, volunteers were raised, and there, in a confined district, where they were half blockaded by the enemy, plans were laid for the deliverance of Galicia, Barrios having for his coadjutors the abbots of S. Mamed and Couto. Their communication with Romana was impeded by the French at Lugo; but they received tidings of co-operation in another quarter where they had not looked for it, and prepared with all alacrity to take advantage of the opportunity that offered.
♦The Portugueze and Galicians blockade Tuy.
March 10.♦
While Soult was before Chaves a party of Portugueze, under Alexandre Alberto de Serpa, crossed the Minho near its mouth, and were joined at Guardia by the peasantry; in a few days some thousand men had collected; the Mayorazgo, D. Joaquin Tenreyro, put himself at their head, and their parish priests acted as officers. The two Abbots, who had taken the title of Generals, and disputed which should be called Commander-in-chief of Galicia, compromised their difference by electing Barrios commandant-general of the province of Tuy and division of the Minho, and they set out with all the force they could muster to join one party of these insurgents who blockaded the French in Tuy, while Morillo and Acuña were directed to join the others, who, officered as they were, undisciplined and ill equipped, had proceeded to besiege the enemy’s garrison in Vigo. It had been Soult’s intention, neglecting all points of less importance, to concentrate in Tuy all the troops belonging to his army whom he had left in Galicia. But when a column of about 800 men, under the chef d’escadron Chalot, bringing with it the heavy baggage of the general officers and the military chest, was on the way thither from Santiago, General Lamartiniere ordered them to Vigo, where the resources were greater both for the men and horses.
♦Vigo.♦
The town of Vigo is situated in a bay, which is one of the largest, deepest, and safest in the whole coast of the peninsula. It is built upon a rock; but, notwithstanding the severe loss which the Spaniards, during the War of the Succession, suffered in that port, no care had been taken to fortify it; it had merely a wall, a fort flanked with four bastions on the land side, and an old castle, equally dilapidated, toward the sea. The neighbourhood of Ferrol has made it neglected as a naval station, and Galicia is too poor a country for foreign commerce. There was, however, a manufactory of hats there, which were exported to America; and a fishery was carried on so extensively as to afford employment for thirty mercantile houses. It derived some importance also from being the seat of government for the province of Tuy. The population amounted to 2500. Sir John Moore had at first fixed upon this port as the place of his embarkation, and ordered the transports there; and the delay occasioned by waiting till they came round Cape Finisterre to join him at Coruña gave time for the French to come up, and for that battle, which, while it redeemed the character of the army, proved fatal to himself.
♦The Spaniards appear before Vigo.♦
Captain Crawford, in the Venus frigate, was off the port, and he wrote to Captain M’Kinley, who was then at Villa Garcia, in the Lively, telling him how much the presence of his ship would contribute to the success of the Spaniards. Meantime Morillo arrived to examine the state of the siege. He learnt that a reinforcement of 1800 French were at this time in Pontevedra, about four leagues off. They had to cross the bridge of St. Payo, over a river which discharges itself into the head of the Bay of Vigo, and Morillo immediately took measures for defending the passage. From Don Juan Antonio Gago, an inhabitant of Marin, who was at the head of 500 peasants, he obtained two eight-pounders, and from the town of Redondella one twenty-four and two eighteen-pounders. With these means of defence he entrusted this position to Don Juan de O’Dogherty, a lieutenant in the Spanish navy, who had the command of three gun-boats. While he was taking these necessary measures, part of Romana’s army, which Soult boasted of having destroyed a fortnight before, drove the enemy back from Pontevedra, and took possession of the town. Morillo joined them; and being of opinion that the reduction of Vigo was the most important object which could then be undertaken, they proceeded to that place.
♦Recapture of that place.♦
The French governor Chalot, a chef d’escadron, had replied to every summons which Tenreyro sent him, that he was not authorised to surrender to peasantry. Captain M’Kinley having now arrived, he was again summoned to surrender, and negotiations were begun, which continued till the third day, when Morillo joined the besiegers with the force from Pontevedra, ♦March 26.♦ consisting of new levies and retired veterans, 1500 of whom had come forward to assist in the deliverance of their country; a council of war was held, by which Morillo was appointed commander-in-chief, and requested to assume the title of colonel, for the sake of appearing of more consequence to M. Chalot, whose complaint it was, that he was not summoned by an officer of sufficient rank. Having been thus ♦March 27.♦ promoted to accommodate the chef d’escadron, he sent him a summons in due form to surrender within two hours. Chalot replied, that he could not possibly capitulate till he had heard the opinion of the council of war, of which he was president; the members were at present dispersed, and he required twenty-four hours to collect them. Morillo returned a verbal answer, that he granted him another two hours, and the French, after ineffectually attempting to prolong the term, delivered in their proposals of capitulation, which were, that they should march out with arms, baggage, the whole of their equipage, and with the honours of war; that they should be conveyed in English vessels to the nearest French port, on parole not to bear arms against Spain or her allies till exchanged, or till peace should have taken place; that the money belonging to the French government, and destined for the payment of the troops, should remain in the hands of the paymaster, who was accountable for it; and that the papers relating to the accounts of the regiments should be preserved; finally, that the troops should not lay down their arms, nor the town and forts be delivered up, till the moment of embarking. Morillo, with the three French officers who brought these proposals, and two Spaniards, went on board the Lively, to lay them before Captain M’Kinley, and answer them with his concurrence. The answer was in a spirit becoming England and Spain. The garrison were required to ground their arms on the glacis, and surrender themselves prisoners of war, the officers being allowed to retain their swords and wearing apparel, nothing more. The demand respecting the money was refused; the place was to be taken possession of as soon as the French grounded their arms, and if these articles were not ratified within an hour, hostilities were to recommence.
The officers who were sent to negotiate agreed to these terms, but the ratification was delayed beyond the hour allotted; and the Spaniards, who were prepared to execute what they had threatened, began the assault between eight and nine at night; while those who had muskets kept up a fire upon the enemy, others began to hew down the gates. An old man particularly distinguished himself at the gate of Camboa, by the vigour with which he laid on his strokes, splintering the wood, and when a ball went through him, by the composure with which he died, happy to have fallen in the discharge of his duty, and in the hour of victory. D. Bernardo Gonzalez, the commanding officer of the detachment from Pontevedra, sprang forward, and taking up the axe of the dead, continued the same work, notwithstanding he was thrice wounded; till a fourth wound disabled him, and he was borne away: seven Spaniards fell at this point. Meantime Morillo was informed that the capitulation was now ratified, and forcing his way through the ranks amidst the fire, with great difficulty he made himself heard, and put a stop to the assault.
On the following morning, when Morillo had made preparations to enter and occupy the place, information was brought him from the little town of Porriño, that a reinforcement from Tuy was on the way to the French. Porriño is about a league to the eastward of the road between these two places, and equidistant about two leagues from both. News, therefore, could not be brought so soon but that the troops must closely follow it. Morillo instantly sent off a part of his force as secretly as possible to intercept them, and he remained hurrying the embarkation of the French, by telling them that he could not restrain the rage of the peasantry. How well they had deserved any vengeance which the peasantry could inflict the garrison were perfectly conscious, and were therefore as eager to get on board as Morillo was to see them there. In this haste, the baggage could not be examined conformably to the capitulation, for the hurry of both parties was increased by hearing a firing from the town. The troops from Tuy had arrived under its walls, and, to their astonishment, a fire was opened upon them. They were attacked, routed, and pursued with such vigour, that out of 450, not more than a fifth part escaped; seventy-two were taken prisoners, and sent on board to join their countrymen; the rest were either killed or wounded. The military chest, containing 117,000 francs, had been delivered up according to the terms; but an examination of the baggage was thought necessary; about 20,000 more were discovered; and the whole of both[10] sums was distributed among the troops and peasantry. Never had a more motley army been assembled: ... men of all ranks and professions bore arms together at this time in Galicia; among those who distinguished themselves were soldiers and sailors; D. Francisco Sanchez Villamarin, the Alferez of a band of students from Santiago; the Abbot of Valladares, and the first preacher of the Franciscans, Fr. Andres Villagelvi.
♦Blockade of Tuy.♦
The French had at this time 5000 men at Santiago, where they were fortifying themselves. Morillo hastened to place Pontevedra in a state of defence against them, and to secure the bridge of S. Payo, that they might not be able to form any farther junction; for they were now calling in all their smaller detachments, and General Lamartiniere had then collected about 3300 men in Tuy, including some 1200 invalids. A fire which was opened against that place across the river from Valença was soon silenced, and the efforts of the disorderly besiegers were not more effectual. Report magnified their numbers to 20,000; but when Barrios arrived to recompose the dispute between the General-Abbots, by taking the command, he found only a fifth part of the estimated force, and only a fourth of these provided with muskets. Having obtained six pieces of cannon from Salvatierra and Vigo, and a scanty supply of ammunition from the same places, from Bayona, and from his Portugueze neighbours at Valença and Monçam, he carried on the blockade in spite of all the efforts of the garrison.
♦1809.
April.
Marshal Soult was under no small anxiety for this place; he had recommended it to Ney’s especial care; but he had reason to fear that Ney would have sufficient employment for all his force; and he knew what effect the fall of a second garrison would produce not upon the people of the country alone, but also upon his own men; for he was not ignorant that the better spirits in his army detested the service upon which they were employed, and that many even of the worst dreaded it. After entering Braga he dispatched a party of horse in that direction, for of the many messengers whom he had sent to Tuy since he marched from thence on his expedition into Portugal, not one had returned. They learnt at Barcellos that it was blockaded, that it had thrown shells into Valença, and that the garrison were strong enough to sally and incommode the besiegers. Soult could take no measures then for their relief, and he supposed that the news of his success in Portugal would alone relieve them to a considerable degree, by drawing off the Portugueze from the blockade: so in fact it proved; they recrossed the Minho as soon as they heard of his entrance into Braga, and it was their departure which enabled Lamartiniere to make his unfortunate attempt for relieving Vigo.
♦The French in Tuy relieved and withdrawn.♦
Having removed his sick and wounded from Braga to Porto, for they were safe nowhere but under the immediate protection of the army, the Marshal sent Generals Graindorges and Heudelet to relieve Tuy and subdue the intermediate country, where the Portugueze General Botelho had put the Corregidor of Barcellos to death for having welcomed the French on their former reconnoissance from Braga. They entered ♦April 8.♦ Ponte de Lima after some resistance; the weak and dilapidated fortress of Valença was surrendered to them, and Barrios, who upon ♦April 10.♦ tidings of their movements had made an unsuccessful attack upon Tuy, retired during the night to S. Comba. The French boasted that Lapella and Monçam, Villa Nova and Caminha had opened their gates to them, and that the fort of Insoa, at the mouth of the Minho, had capitulated: the names carried as lofty a sound as if the places were of any strength, or possessed any importance, or could have been defended against them, or held by them. But in fact the only advantage expected or derived from the expedition was that of removing with all speed the garrison and all the moveable effects first from Tuy to Valença, that they might be on the safer side of the Minho, and then with the least possible delay to Porto. In that city Marshal Soult remained, unable to prosecute his plans of conquest, and not more in hope of co-operation from Lapisse and Victor, than in apprehension that a British force might anticipate their tardy movements.
CHAPTER XX.
OPERATIONS IN LA MANCHA AND EXTREMADURA. BATTLES OF CIUDAD REAL AND MEDELLIN.
♦1809.
March.♦
Marshal Soult imputed the failure of his expedition to a deviation from the plan which Buonaparte had prescribed, in not taking possession of Ciudad Rodrigo. Lapisse had been prevented from doing this when it might have been done without difficulty, by the unexpected appearance of Sir Robert Wilson in that quarter; and Victor, who might have taken the place in spite of any resistance which could then have been opposed, was employed in operations more likely to gratify the pride of the French, but of much less importance to the iniquitous cause in which they were engaged.
♦Plans of the intrusive government.♦
Reasons, however, were not wanting for this change of plan. The danger from the spirit of the people in Galicia and in Portugal had either not been foreseen, or disregarded; while the French, well knowing in how short a time men of any nation may be made efficient soldiers by good discipline, and seeing with what celerity, after so many severe defeats, the armies of La Carolina and Extremadura had been brought into the field, deemed it necessary to attack those armies before they should become formidable, and destroy them, as far as their destruction could be effected by the most merciless carnage, ... for such Buonaparte’s generals, to whose pleasure the government of Spain was in fact entrusted, were determined to make. They had been trained in the school of the Revolution, and the temper which they had acquired there fitted them for the service of such a master; and Joseph’s miserable ministers, who had penned their edicts of extermination in the hope of intimidating their countrymen, had the misery of knowing that those edicts were acted upon to the letter. Wrung with compunction their hearts were, for some of them had begun life with good hearts, generous feelings, and upright intentions; but having allowed themselves to be engaged in an evil cause, they were now so far in blood, that one deadly sin drew on another, in dreadful and necessary series.
♦Effect of the war upon the French soldiery.♦
By the letters which were intercepted at this time it appeared that mothers and wives in France congratulated themselves if the objects of their affection were employed in Spain, rather than in the Austrian war, so little did they apprehend the real and dreadful character of such a service. The armies in La Mancha were not better supplied than those in Galicia; weeks sometimes elapsed in which they received neither bread for themselves nor barley for their horses, having to subsist as they could by chance and by plunder. This mode of life had given them the ferocity and the temper of banditti, and would have led to the total subversion of discipline among any soldiers less apt for discipline than the French. The infantry sometimes murmured under their privations, delivered their opinions freely, and held sometimes towards their officers a language which might be deemed insolent; but a jest produced more effect upon them than a reprimand, a good-humoured reply brought them into good humour; and the prospect of action giving them a hope of discharging their ill feelings upon the Spaniards, always animated them, and made them alert in obedience. The cavalry had better means of providing for themselves, and more opportunities of plunder; they therefore were always respectful as well as submissive to their officers, lest they should be dismounted and deprived of these advantages. The character of the service in which they were incessantly employed gave both to men and horse a sort of Tartar-like sagacity which perhaps had never before been seen among the troops of a highly civilized people. Savages could scarcely have been more quick-sighted in discovering a pass, detecting an ambush, or descrying a distant enemy. And the attachment between horse and rider became such, that if a trooper waking from sleep saw by the condition of his beast that in a fit of drunkenness he had over-ridden or any ways abused it, he would in the first emotions of self-reproach abjure wine and shed tears, with imprecations upon himself, go on foot whenever he could to spare the horse, and give him the bread which should have been his own portion. And yet this humanizing feeling did not render them more humane toward their enemies. Since the religious wars in France no contest had been carried on with so ferocious a spirit on both sides. That cruelty which in the middle ages was common to all nations had been continued among the Spaniards by the effects of the Inquisition, and by their bull-fights, ... among the French by the inhuman character of their old laws, and afterwards by the Revolution; on both sides it was called into full action, retaliation provoking retaliation, and revenge. Even the cheerfulness of the French, which is their peculiar and happy characteristic, which if not a virtue itself, is connected with many virtues, and without which no virtue can have its proper grace, ... even that quality was corrupted by the dreadful warfare in which they were engaged. Light minds go beyond the point of fortitude in that disregard of death which the continual presence of danger necessarily induces. That which the wise and good regard with silent composure is to them a theme for bravados and heart-hardening mockery. It became common ♦Rocca, 84, 87.♦ for the French, when they recognised a comrade among the slain, to notice him not by any expression of natural feeling, but by some coarse and unfeeling jest. The evil here was to themselves alone; but their oppressions were rendered more intolerable, and their cruelties more devilish, because they were exercised mirthfully.
♦Temper of the Spanish generals in La Mancha and Extremadura.♦
The armies under Cartaojal and Cuesta were at this time in such a state that they deserved to have been better commanded, if the government had known where to look for better commanders. With all Cuesta’s good qualities, his popularity among the troops, his sure integrity, his courage, and the enterprising energy which in spite of age and infirmities he was capable of exerting, caprice, obstinacy, and a desperate rashness which no experience could correct, made him a most unfit man to be trusted with such a stake in such times. All his desire was to meet the enemy in fair battle, where he could draw out his men in full display; and if all his men had been as thoroughly brave as himself, the old man’s system would not have been erroneous. Cartaojal, on the contrary, was so convinced that discipline was every thing, and that the best thing which could be done with his troops was to drill them, that he let slip fair opportunities of exercising them in successful enterprise. It seems almost as if a fatality overruled the councils of the Spaniards, both in the cabinet and in the field; and that if these generals had merely been interchanged, Cartaojal’s caution might have saved the Extremaduran army, and Cuesta’s enterprise have seized the advantages which were presented to that of La Carolina.
If severe measures could have restored discipline, they were not wanting; and they were used with such effect as for a time to stop desertion. ♦Reforms in the Spanish army.♦ One essential reform was introduced. All the infantry officers were till this time mounted, and this practice occasioned a great consumption of forage when forage could hardly be obtained for the cavalry; it led also to these farther inconveniences, that the march of the columns was never conducted as it ought, for want of the immediate presence and attention of the officers; and that in case of retreat the mounted officer had a facility for expediting his escape which might operate as a dangerous temptation upon such officers in such times. No general could have ventured upon this needful reformation without drawing upon himself the ill-will of those whom it affected; the Junta, however, sent orders that no person in the infantry under the rank of major (except the adjutant) should be allowed a horse. This was done by British advice; and if there had been no more jealousy of the British in inferior agents than existed in the Central Junta, the cordial co-operation of the two nations would have met with no obstruction.
♦The Duque de Alburquerque.♦
The most efficient arm of Cartaojal’s force was the cavalry. It had been under the Marquez de Palacios, who had the reputation of being the best cavalry officer in Spain, and was at this time commanded by the Duque de Alburquerque, D. Jose Maria de la Cueva. This nobleman, then in his thirty-fifth year, united in his own person many of those names which are most illustrious in Spanish history, and he had inherited also in no diminished portion the best and noblest qualities of that proud ancestry. His education had been neglected, so that his mind was not stored like Romana’s, neither was it equally under self-government. But his military talents were such as to impress upon all who knew him the belief that if experience and opportunity had been afforded, he would have ranked among the great captains of the age: for he was ardent without being incautious, capable alike of planning with clear forethought and executing with celerity, far-sighted, prompt in decision, and above all endowed with that true and rare nobility of soul which is essential to true greatness.
♦He proposes offensive operations.♦
A man of this stamp wins the love of the soldiery as certainly as he obtains their confidence. Hope became their ruling passion when Alburquerque was present; and their success in some enterprises, and the skill with which their commander baffled the movements of the enemy in others, gave the fairest prospect of success if the system of enterprise were persevered in. In pursuance of that system, and with the intention of making a diversion in favour of Cuesta, against whom there was reason to believe that the French were preparing a serious attack, the Duke proposed to advance upon Toledo, where they had 4000 foot and 1500 horse, with 12,000 or 15,000 infantry, 4000 horse, and twenty pieces of horse artillery; and perceiving but too well that his reputation and popularity were regarded with jealous eyes, he advised that the expedition should be not under his own command, but that of a superior officer; and he represented to Cartaojal that the object of forming and disciplining the raw troops would be carried on more certainly and securely while that part of the army which was fit for service occupied the enemy by harassing and keeping them on the alarm. The plan was too bold for one of Cartaojal’s temper; he saw the necessity of training the army, and did not consider that enterprise is the best training, and the only, that can be carried on within reach of an active enemy. He ordered him, however, to advance with 2000 horse and four pieces of artillery; and the Duke felt that, as an attempt made with such a force could only end in a precipitate retreat, the intention must be to wreck his reputation by exposing him to certain failure.
♦They are undertaken when too late.♦
His representations, however, to the Junta were so well seconded, that instructions came for advancing upon Toledo with all the disposable force of the army. But when Cartaojal communicated this to the Duke, he ordered him to deliver up the command of the vanguard to D. Juan Bernuy, and march himself immediately with Bassecourt’s and Echavarri’s divisions of 3500 men and 200 cavalry for Guadalupe, to reinforce Cuesta. It was sufficiently mortifying ♦The Duke sent to join Cuesta.♦ for the Duke to be removed from the cavalry which had acquired credit and confidence while he was at their head, and this too at the moment when the measure which he had so strenuously urged was about to be undertaken; but it was more painful to know that the attempt had been delayed till there was no longer any reasonable prospect of success. With the little body of new-raised infantry which was now placed under his command he began his march for Extremadura, and the ill-fated army of La Carolina commenced its operations at a moment when it was thus deprived of the only General who possessed its confidence.
♦Cartaojal advances against the French.♦
The head-quarters of that army were at Ciudad Real, the cavalry occupying a line from Manzanares to that city through Damiel, Torralva, and Carrion, and the infantry in the towns to the left and in the rear of Valdepenas. Cartaojal thought this a most advantageous position, having the Sierra Morena behind him as a sure refuge if he were defeated, whereas the enemy, were they to be repulsed in an attack, would be exposed in the open plains, and have to cross the Zeucara and the Guadiana in their flight. Having advanced to Yebenes, and found the French ready to advance themselves, Cartaojal retreated upon Consuegra; that place, to his surprise, was occupied by the enemy in great strength: he fell back, therefore, to his former position, in the advantage of which he trusted, ... and there, eight and forty hours after he had commenced this useless and harassing movement, the French appeared in pursuit, drove in his cavalry, and prepared to attack him in force on the following morning. They were commanded by General Sebastiani, who had superseded Marshal Lefebvre. The action which ♦Rout of the Carolina army at Ciudad Real.♦ ensued is, even upon their own accounts, disgraceful to both parties; to the Spaniards, because ♦March 17.♦ they were successively driven from every point where they attempted to stand, and pursued to the entrance of the Sierra; to the conquerors, because Sebastiani stated in his official report that the Spaniards fled on the first charge without resistance, and that he had sabred more than 3000 of them in their flight. Eighteen pieces of cannon, and 4000 prisoners, including nearly 200 officers, were, according to the same report, taken. The fugitives felt a confidence in the Sierra which they had not done in their General, and collected in considerable numbers at Despeñaperros, Venta Quemada, and Montizon; head-quarters were established in the village of S. Elena, two leagues in advance of Carolina, and the French, without pursuing them into the mountains, halted at Santa Cruz, awaiting there the success of Victor’s operations against Cuesta.
♦Operations of Marshal Victor.♦
Marshal Victor’s corps, leaving La Mancha about the middle of the preceding month, occupied a line upon the Tagus from Talavera to Almaraz; his head-quarters were at the latter place, where he was preparing materials for a floating bridge, Cuesta having blown up the arches of the Puente de Almaraz. A bridge was necessary here, because, though they could have crossed the river at two other points, there was no road from either of those points practicable for artillery. But the bridge could not be constructed while the Spaniards occupied a post which effectually commanded the passage. Cuesta was aware of these preparations, and also that there was an intention of passing over a detachment higher up to attack him on that flank; accordingly he reinforced it, and removed his head-quarters from Jaraicejo to Puerto de Miravete, that he might be near the scene of operations.
♦The French cross the Puente del Arzobispo.♦
The French detachment, as he had foreseen, effected their passage at Puente del Arzobispo, or the Archbishop’s Bridge, so called from its founder, D. Pedro Tenorio. A wooden bridge ♦March 16.♦ which existed in his days had been swept away by a flood; and as it was there that pilgrims from the western side of the river passed to pay their devotions to the famous image of our Lady of Guadalupe, he built the present edifice of stone, and founded an hospital for their accommodation, and a town, which he named Villa Franca, but which soon took its appellation more conveniently from the bridge. It became a point of considerable importance in the campaigns of this year. The enemy crossed ♦March 17.♦ with little or no resistance, and the advanced parties of the Spaniards fell back upon the division which was stationed at La Mesa de Ibor, and thence, after an unsuccessful stand, to the village of Campillo, but in good order; their whole conduct having been such as to satisfy the Commander-in-chief, who occupied a strong position, and expected that he should well be able to repel this division of the enemy, while Camp-Marshal Henestrosa, with the vanguard, would prevent their main body from establishing their bridge at Almaraz.
♦Cuesta retreats from the Puerto de Miravete.♦
But the French, who had crossed at Arzobispo, after dislodging the Spaniards from their positions at Mesa de Ibor and Fresnedoso, divided into two columns; the one proceeded by the circuitous way of Deleitosa and Torrecillas, with the intent of getting into Cuesta’s rear, between Jaraicejo and Miravete, and thus to cut off his communication and supplies; the other marched by Valduaña toward the bridge of Almaraz, to dislodge Henestrosa, and thereby free the passage of the river. Cuesta’s army consisted of about 16,000 men; the French were little if at all superior in numbers, but he believed that they had 20,000 foot and 3000 cavalry; and learning that Henestrosa, under the belief that his right was threatened by a superior force, had withdrawn from his post, and that the enemy had already begun to cross the Tagus, he determined to retreat toward Truxillo, lest he should be attacked at the same time both in the front and in the rear. This ♦March 18.♦ brave old man was cautious when he ought to have been bold, and rash in enterprise when he ought to have been cautious. Had Henestrosa been supported in time (for there had been time enough to support him), the ground was so strong, and the Spaniards in such a temper, that the French could hardly have reached the position at Miravete without sustaining a loss severe enough to have crippled them. In pursuance of this unwise resolution, on the night of the 18th he began his retreat, with the intention of forcing his way through the French corps, which he expected to fall in with, and of taking up the best position he could find for his own subsistence, and for covering the frontiers of Andalusia. But by thus abandoning an excellent position, he left Extremadura open to a hungry enemy.
♦Skirmishes at Truxillo and Miajadas.♦
When the Central Junta were informed of these movements, they imputed the disastrous measure to Henestrosa’s abandonment of his post, and ordered Cuesta to proceed against him with all the rigour of the law. But the old General, though disposed at first to condemn him, was too generous to do this. He replied that the Camp-Marshal had in all other cases behaved well, and with a courage amounting to rashness, and that in this he had acted only under an error of judgement. He met with no enemies on his night march, and halting in the morning beyond the Rio Monte, learnt that the detachment which he had expected to encounter was taking a direction for Truxillo. To Truxillo he proceeded on his retreat, and, leaving Henestrosa to cover that city, took up a position at the Puerto de Santa Cruz, forty miles from the stronger pass whence he had retreated. There it was his intention to wait till it should be seen whether Alburquerque’s division could effect its junction, and whether it ♦March 20.♦ would make him equal to the enemy. On the following morning Henestrosa was attacked, and driven to a little bridge on the other side of Truxillo: there he repulsed the enemy, and the skirmishing continued all day, with equal loss on either side, the Spaniards behaving in such a manner as to increase the General’s confidence in his troops. Cuesta expected now to be attacked on the morrow, either in front or on his left toward the village of Abertura, and had made up his mind to abide an action. But Cuesta’s resolutions were sometimes changed with as little consideration as they had been taken, for he was a man who acted more frequently upon the impulse of the moment than upon reflection. The whole of Victor’s force was collected at Truxillo; his advanced parties kept the Spaniards upon the alarm as well as the alert, and Cuesta then began to apprehend that the Puerto de S. Cruz was not defensible against the superior force that would be brought against him, especially as the ground was not favourable for cavalry. In the morning, therefore, he recommenced his retreat, evidently not knowing whither, and with no determined purpose, but in good order and in good heart, for, injudicious and ruinous as all the late movements had been, the men were not yet dispirited. While he was halting near Miajadas to refresh the troops, the chasseurs of the enemy’s advanced guard approached near enough to expose themselves; the advantage was well taken, and the French Colonel tore his hair in an agony of grief when he saw some hundred and fifty of his ♦Rocca, 93.♦ finest men cut down. This success was obtained by the regiments of Infante and Almanza. It raised the spirits of the men, a feeling of useful emulation was showing itself, and Cuesta formed the wise resolution (if he had been steady enough in his purposes to have kept it) of exercising them in various movements from one position to another, without exposing them in battle, and thus detaining the enemy till Cartaojal’s advance upon Toledo should operate as a diversion in his favour. That same evening, therefore, he retired to Medellin; and the next day, thinking it probable that if he remained the French would attack him on the morrow, he marched for Campanario, to join Alburquerque, who with his little division was coming by way of Aguda and Garbayuela. He did not, however, remain there till the junction was effected, but moved to Valle de la Serena, chiefly for the sake of facilitating his supplies. Some magazines had fallen into the enemy’s hands at Truxillo, one of the ill consequences arising from his rash retreat; there was no want of food in that as yet unravaged country, but he complained to the government of the incapacity and irregularity of all the persons employed in that department, and protested that unless this evil was remedied it would be impossible for him to maintain discipline, or prevent dispersion.
♦Junction with Alburquerque’s division.♦
The information which Cuesta received at this time, that a train of heavy artillery had been sent from Madrid toward Extremadura, made him apprehend the chief object of the enemy was to lay siege to Badajoz. The possession of that fortress was so important toward the success of their operations against Portugal, that this design had been apprehended as soon as they became masters of the field, and the Governor had been repeatedly charged to omit no means for putting it in a good state of defence. Forming a new plan in consequence of this, Cuesta informed the Central Junta that he should annoy the besiegers, and cut off their communication with Madrid. But he had no sooner effected his junction with Alburquerque than he determined upon seeking the enemy, and offering battle in the first favourable situation. It was not the addition of strength which induced him to this measure, for he had expected to meet 6000 men, and had found little more than half that number; ... but long irresolution usually ends in some rash resolve.
♦Cuesta offers battle at Medellin.♦
Having forsaken that strong ground, which, if it had been defended as well as it was wisely chosen, would have covered Extremadura, it was as much Cuesta’s policy to have avoided an action now as it had been then to have stood an attack, for he knew that he might expect a British army to co-operate with him. Sometimes as facile and vacillating as he was obstinate and impracticable at others, no man was more unfit to command an army in critical times; and yet the honest originality of his character, his fearless and buoyant spirit which nothing could cast down, his energy which neither age nor infirmity had abated, and the warmth of his heart as well as his temper, had won for him in no common degree the attachment not of the soldiers alone, but of those even who perceived and lamented his errors. The enemy at this time occupied Merida and Medellin: the latter town, memorable as having been the birth-place of Hernan Cortes, stands on the left bank of the Guadiana, in a wide and open plain, without tree or cover of any kind. ♦March 28.♦ On that plain Cuesta formed his whole force in one line, of about a league in extent, without any reserve, disdaining all advantage of ground, as if he had desired nothing but a fair field and mere individual courage were to decide the day. His army consisted of 20,000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. The vanguard, under Henestrosa, and the Duque del Parque’s division, formed the left, which Cuesta took under his own charge, as being placed on the highest ground, from whence he could overlook the field. The centre was under D. Francisco de Trias. D. Francisco de Eguia, who was second in command, was with the right wing, which consisted of the Marques de Portago’s division and Alburquerque’s, the Duke having with him his own horse. The cavalry were on the left, that being the point where the French presented the greatest force.
♦Battle of Medellin.♦
Victor’s army consisted of about 18,000 foot and 2500 horse. He had collected his whole force there, for the purpose of striking an efficient blow, and destroying, if that were possible, the Spanish army, in pursuance of the murderous system upon which he had been instructed to act. They were formed in an arc between the Guadiana and a cultivated ravine which extends from Medellin to the village of Mengabril; Lasalle’s division of light cavalry on the left, the division of German infantry in the centre, in large close columns; the dragoons under General Latour-Maubourg on the right, the divisions of Villate and Ruffin in reserve; their front was covered by six batteries of four guns each. The action began about eleven o’clock. These batteries opened on the Spanish infantry, who were ordered by Cuesta to charge with the bayonet and take them. The order was bravely obeyed; two regiments of French dragoons charged the foot, and were repulsed with loss: the German division formed itself into a square, and resisted with such difficulty the resolute attack of the Spaniards, that Cuesta was in full hope of a complete victory, and Victor not without apprehensions of a defeat, till part of his reserve succeeded in enabling his infantry to keep their ground. The Spaniards on the left had taken the first battery; a strong body of horse, protected by a column of infantry, advanced to recover it, and at that moment the whole of the Spanish cavalry on the ♦Misconduct of the Spanish cavalry.♦ left took panic, and without facing the foe, without attempting to make the slightest stand, fled in the greatest disorder from the field, most of them to the distance of many leagues. Instances of such scandalous panic were but too frequent in the Spanish armies during the war, but in no instance was it more fatal or more unaccountable than in this; for the day was going on well, the infantry were in good heart, the advantage was on their side; and the regiments which at that crisis disgraced themselves, and betrayed their country, had displayed both skill and courage during the retreat from the Tagus, and had distinguished themselves in the affair near Miajadas.
Cuesta, who was at the other end of the wing when he saw this shameful abandonment, clapped spurs to his horse in the hope of rallying them; his staff followed, ... but in vain; the enemy, quick in seizing opportunity, turned the left, which was thus exposed, and as there was no second line or reserve, defeat then became ♦Cuesta thrown, and wounded.♦ inevitable. The old General was thrown, and wounded in the foot, and not without great difficulty rescued and saved from capture by the exertion of his two nephews and some other brave and faithful officers. But the day was irrecoverably lost; and the French, having routed the left wing, turned upon the centre and the right.
♦Dispersion of the Spanish army.♦
The right wing of the Spaniards, meantime, had made the enemy give ground, and were following up their success; but Alburquerque, seeing what had occurred in the other flank, proposed to form in close columns of battalions, and begin their retreat. Eguia overruled this, saying he had no instructions to that effect, and not daring even in this evident emergence to act upon his own responsibility. Indeed it is affirmed, that not one of Cuesta’s officers knew his intention of giving battle an hour before the action began. Affairs were every moment growing worse, and Eguia having left the right of the line, the Duke gave the necessary command; but it had been delayed too long; the whole force of the French artillery was concentred upon these columns, who were now the only troops that remained unbroken; a total dispersion took place; and the enemy, forming a chain of cavalry all round the routed army, executed their orders, which were to give no quarter. They had suffered enough in the action to make them obey this atrocious command with good will. They had themselves 4000 men killed and wounded, ... nearly a fifth of their whole force; their official statement of the Spanish loss made it 7000 killed; other accounts carried it to 12,000. Cuesta could only state that it was very great, and ascertain that a hundred and seventy officers of infantry and ten of cavalry were killed, wounded, or missing.
♦No quarter given.♦
Weariness, rather than compunction, on the part of the French, at length put a stop to the carnage, and the account of prisoners is variously stated from three thousand to seven; but it is certain that not two ever reached Madrid. A wounded Spanish officer was brought into the room where Victor was at supper, and the French Marshal said to him, “If my orders had been obeyed, sir, you would not have been here.” Those orders had been obeyed too well. The dragoons that night in the French camp were rubbing their sword arms with soap and spirits, to recover the muscles from the strains of that day’s slaughter. Their cruelty was not satiated even with this success. A peasant in one of the near villages had a son who was in Cuesta’s army, where he had served for some time. When the army drew near Medellin, this Juan went to his father’s house, and his conversation induced his two brothers, Antonio and Carlos, to go with him as volunteers. Juan was never seen after the battle; but the father upon searching the field found Antonio’s body, and the other brother, wounded, and weeping over it. He removed the dead son and the living one to his cottage, that the one might receive Christian burial, and the other such help as might have restored him. A party of the French, in their work of pillage, entered the house, and finding a wounded Spaniard there, deliberately shot him, before his father’s face.
♦Escape of Alburquerque.♦
When the dispersion of his columns took place, the Duke of Alburquerque found his retreat completely cut off. Four officers were with him; with these he advanced upon the French cordon of cavalry, and when at the distance of about an hundred yards, turning to one of his companions, he said, “You see that officer of chasseurs so gaily caparisoned? I will have him down in a moment.” He then spurred his horse, and rode at him full speed: of course his companions followed; ... the French officer was startled, and moved rapidly on one side, several of the chasseurs imitated his movement, and Alburquerque with his friends got through the opening they had thus made. D. Miguel de Alava was one of those friends; he had behaved with distinguished gallantry that day, and just before the dispersion of the last battalions, sword in hand, singly retook a Spanish nine-pounder from two French dragoons who had taken possession of it. Soon after they had broken through, and were still hotly pursued, a wounded artilleryman besought Alava to save him from the general massacre. “Get up behind me,” was the answer, “and I will carry you off, or we will perish together.” This little party, happily for Spain, effected their escape. About midnight they arrived at a lone farm-house, far enough from the field to feel themselves in safety; and having got some wood upon the fire, and lighted their cigars, they agreed unanimously that the loss of the battle was of no[11] importance. Such was the spirit of the Spaniards; a spirit which no misfortunes could abate, which no defeats could subdue.
♦The remains of the Spanish army collect.♦
The battle itself, most unfortunate as it was, afforded Cuesta some vindication for the error which he had committed in risking it. It had been fought so well by the infantry, that they had obtained, and that for a considerable time, a decided advantage, till the horse took fright, and abandoned them. But it was after the defeat that the strength of the old man’s character appeared with full effect; and certainly on that memorable occasion both the General and the government proved themselves worthy of their country and their cause. The advance of the French was impeded by the weather, a storm of wind and heavy rain having raged uninterruptedly for three days after the battle, and swollen the brooks so as to render them like rivers. A mishap also had befallen them at Almaraz, where their bridge gave way while some ammunition carts were passing: many lives were lost, and the operations of the army were delayed in consequence. They collected, however, in and about Merida, and their advanced parties appeared at Almendralejo and Villa Franca. This seemed to indicate an intention of entering Andalusia; and Cuesta was of opinion, that, knowing the total dispersion of his army, they would not hesitate at dividing their own force, and execute this design with one part, while they laid siege with the other to Badajoz, which was not in a state for making a long military defence. He urged the government to send all the disposable force in Andalusia to S. Olalla without delay; between that place and Ronquillo, he said, was the only position where they could resist the enemy with good probability of success, provided there were troops, and artillery and subsistence.
♦Cuesta disgraces those who had behaved ill.♦
He had appointed Llerena as the rallying point for the fugitives. The infantry came slowly in, but when Cuesta arrived he found that the cavalry had collected there with little diminution. He thanked the army in his general orders for their good conduct at Medellin, excepting by name the horse regiments which had so disgracefully taken flight, and thereby occasioned that to be a defeat, which, if they had done their duty like the foot, would have proved a most glorious and important victory. For this offence he suspended three Colonels from their rank. It does not appear that any heavier punishment was inflicted: ... the fault had been too general to fix it upon individuals; ... and if recourse had been had to lot, it might have fallen upon men who, with the best heart and will, had not been able in that precipitate ♦1809.
April.♦ movement to check either their companions or their horses. The privates were disgraced by having one of their pistols taken from them, till by some good service they should regain the honour which they had lost.
♦The Junta act wisely and generously upon these defeats.♦
It was reported that the Central Junta upon the first intelligence of the defeat had fled from Seville. The danger was considered so imminent, that they had deliberated concerning their removal; and the Junta of Seville, who had been consulted, proposed that if such a measure were adopted, absolute power should be left in their hands. But the government did nothing precipitately, and on no occasion throughout the war did it display more magnanimity or so much energy as at this time of trial. The same day brought them tidings of the defeat at Ciudad Real and of that at Medellin; the same gazette communicated both to the people. There was nothing to qualify the disgrace and loss which Cartaojal had sustained; he was therefore quietly removed from the command. Whatever errors the Central Junta may have committed, no other government ever exercised its power with such humanity in such times, no other government ever made such just and humane allowances for inexperience and weakness, nor dealt so generously with the unfortunate. They decreed pensions to the widows and orphans of all who had fallen at Medellin, in proportion to their rank and circumstances, and a badge of distinction to those corps which the General should commend; and they promoted all the officers who had distinguished themselves. They pronounced that the General and the body of the army had deserved well of their country. Knowing that Cuesta had been lamed by his fall, they required him in all his dispatches to report the state of his own health; and though they appointed D. Francisco de Venegas to succeed Cartaojal, they placed both armies under Cuesta’s orders, giving him the rank of Captain-general. In the preamble to this decree they said that all the details of the battle tended to console them for its loss, and that the spirit of Hernan Cortes might have beheld with joy the courage which his countrymen had manifested upon the scene of his childhood. The example of that day, they said, might make them hope that with perseverance they might form an infantry capable of defending the national independence; an infantry that should be the worthy rival and successor of those famous Tercios which under the best captains in the world had supported the glory of Spain in Flanders and in Italy and in Germany.
♦Their appeal to the people.♦
The Junta felt it necessary to defend themselves at this time against the base enemies who charged the late calamities upon their misconduct, and who were agitating the people of Seville by false alarms, reporting that the French were within five leagues of that city, and that the nation was betrayed and sold by its Government. In reply to these senseless accusations the Junta appealed to the fact, that in the course of two months it had set on foot two armies for the defence of the Andalusias, consisting of 50,000 men and nearly 12,000 horse. This they had done beside the assistance which they had afforded to other provinces; and when was it known that the injuries which the ship sustains in a storm had been imputed to the pilot? The Junta had issued an abominable edict, whereby, after denouncing the punishment of death against all persons who should endeavour to raise distrust of the existing Government, or to overturn it by exciting popular commotions, they invited informers to denounce such persons to ♦Tribunal of public safety.♦ the Tribunal of Public Safety which they had instituted, holding out the promise of secresy and reward. When this decree appeared Mr. Frere saw to what an atrocious system of tyranny it might lead. Judging of the Junta by their individual characters, he felt assured that they would each have shrunk from carrying such measures into effect; but he was well aware how little the personal characters of any men placed in such circumstances are to be relied on, and apprehended that after some natural hesitation the majority might either yield to the guidance of one or two members, more violent and less scrupulous, or abandon themselves to the direction of this Tribunal of Public Safety; the very name of which, he said, must remind us of the worst revolutionary horrors. But though the State Papers of the Junta were on most occasions wiser than their actions, in this instance their conduct was better than their language; and it now appeared, most honourably for the national character, that, notwithstanding this public encouragement to the nefarious practice of delation, not a single secret information had been laid. If any person, said the Junta, had complaint to make, or suspicion to allege against any of the public functionaries, let him lay his proofs before this Tribunal. But this has not been done, and all the processes which that Tribunal has instituted have been public prosecutions, not one upon the accusation of an individual.
♦Correspondence on the Intruder’s part with the Junta.♦
The Intruder and his partizans hoped at this time that the defeat and dispersion of two armies on two succeeding days would break the spirit of the Government, if not of the nation, and that the Junta might be induced to secure themselves and their own possessions by submission. Accordingly a Spanish traitor, by name Joaquim ♦April 12.♦ Maria Sotelo, addressed a letter from Merida to the vice-president, saying, that the greater number of the provinces of Spain had sufficiently suffered from the effects of war and conquest, and now the rest were threatened with the same calamities. Filled with consternation, he said, at the defeats of Cartaojal and Cuesta, the honourable Spaniards at the court of Madrid, who could not contemplate without the most poignant grief the desolation of their country, had implored the King to alleviate the distresses of such provinces as were occupied by the French troops, and to prevent them in those which were not yet in their possession. To these prayers the King had attended, had ordered him to announce his compliance to the Junta, and authorized him to confer with such deputies as the Junta might appoint, on the best means of fulfilling his wishes. He could not suppose that they would refuse to take steps on which the salvation of Andalusia and the happiness of the whole kingdom depended. And, as the business was most important and most urgent, Sotelo represented, that it would be improper to conduct it in writing, but that all the disputes and irregularities and doubts which it would otherwise cause might be obviated by a personal conference. On this ground, he hoped that deputies would be named to confer with him.
The Junta replied, not to this traitor himself, but to Cuesta. “They had not forgotten,” they said, “the character with which they were invested, and the oath which they had taken, in unison with the wishes of the nation. If Sotelo were the bearer of powers sufficiently extensive to treat for the restitution of their King, and for the immediate evacuation of the Spanish territory by the French troops, let him publish them in the usual form, and they would be announced to the allies of Spain. The Junta had no authority to listen to any treaty, or terminate any transaction, which was not founded on the basis of eternal justice. Any other principle of negotiation, without benefiting the empire, would only tend to degrade the Junta, which had entered into the most awful engagements to bury itself beneath the ruins of the monarchy, rather than sanction any proposition which should diminish the honour and independence of the Spanish people.” This answer they desired Cuesta to transmit to the Intruder’s agent, and they published the proposal and the reply. Perceiving, however, of what importance the safety of the government was to the national cause, and the danger therefore of associating it in the minds of the people with any particular place of residence, in times when no place was secure, they published a decree upon this subject. It began by an avowal, that in their anxiety to provide immediate remedy for the calamities which had befallen the armies of La Mancha and ♦April 18.♦ Extremadura, they had imprudently hazarded their own safety by remaining at Seville. But having provided for the reinforcement and equipment of the troops, and furnished all the supplies which were requisite for the defence of Andalusia, they had in cool consideration reflected, that their security was inseparable from that of the state; that the preserval of the deposit of the sovereignty entrusted into their hands was the first of their obligations; and that they could not again expose it to the danger of being destroyed, without doing wrong to the nation which had confided it to them. The Speed with which the tyrant of Europe advanced against Madrid in November, and sent troops towards Aranjuez, made it apparent that a principal object of his policy was to strike a blow at the government, and, seizing the body which administered it, cut all the bonds of political association, and thus throw the nation into confusion. These were still his objects: trusting more to his cunning than his force, he still pursued the government, hoping to get its members in his power, and then renew the infamous scenes of Bayonne, by compelling them to authorize his usurpation, or sacrificing them to his rage if they resisted his seductions and his menaces. Thus to degrade the government in the eyes of the nation itself would, he thought, be the best means of degrading the nation also, and reducing it to that servitude, which, in the insolence of his fortune, this tyrant designed to inflict upon Spain. To frustrate these aims, they decreed, that, whenever the place of their residence might be threatened, or when any other reason should convince them of the utility of so doing, they would transfer the seat of government elsewhere, where they might preserve the august deposit of the sovereignty, and watch over the defence, the well-being, and the prosperity of the nation. And they declared, that, whatever the accidents of the war might be, the Junta would never abandon the continent of Spain, while a single spot could be found in it where they could establish themselves for defending the country against the force and fraud of its perfidious enemy, as they had solemnly sworn to do.
♦Measures for securing Badajoz.♦
When the news of Cuesta’s defeat at Medellin reached Paris, it was affirmed in the Moniteur, that by this battle Seville was laid open to the French armies, and that probably by that time Lisbon also was once more in their possession, ... so confident was the French government of speedy and complete success. In the same confidence, and with the hope of subduing the spirit of the Aragoneze, the French Governor of Zaragoza ordered mass to be celebrated in the Church of the Pillar, for the capture of Lisbon and Seville, as events which had taken place. Soult would undoubtedly have advanced upon the Portugueze capital, if he could have relied upon Victor’s movements; but that General found that the battle of Medellin had rather raised the hopes of the Spaniards than depressed them. His views were upon Badajoz. Aware of this, the Government, with that promptitude which characterised all their measures at this crisis, supplied the place with money and arms, and addressed public letters to the Junta of that city and the Governor, reminding them that Zaragoza had held out two months not against the enemy alone, but against hunger and pestilence; and that her defenders would be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance, while the names of those who had so basely delivered up Coruña would be handed down for lasting infamy from generation to generation. To the General, D. Antonio Arce, they said, that true glory was to be gained by overcoming great dangers, and an opportunity for such glory was now afforded him. The Extremadurans were not less brave than the Aragoneze, and Badajoz possessed a defence in her fortifications which had not existed at Zaragoza. The soldier fought with best hope, and sacrificed himself with most alacrity, when he saw his commander set the example; and such an example would not be wanting in one whose ancestors filled a distinguished place in the annals of their country. At all times Extremadura had produced heroes. There had the Pizarros, and there had Cortes been born, to be examples now for their countrymen.
♦A crusade proclaimed there against the invaders.♦
Marshal Victor sent to summon Badajoz, though he was not prepared to lay siege to it; but the pitiable state of the country rendered it always possible that a governor might be found weak enough in principle or in mind to betray his trust. A spirit however such as the time required prevailed there, and the parties which he sent out in that direction were attacked at advantage and driven back with loss. The Junta informed the Government, that, in consideration of the sacrileges which the enemy committed wherever they went, they were enlisting the peasantry under the banner of the Crusade with which the misbelievers in old times had been pursued and conquered. The Government approved this measure, saying that if their forefathers had proclaimed crusades for the recovery of the Holy Land, with much more reason now might they have recourse to the same means for defending their religion in the bosom of their own country against profanations more impious than had been heard of in the darkest ages or among the most barbarous people. And they directed that the persons who should be embodied in these new corps should be distinguished by wearing a red cross on the breast. The Central Junta entertained a thought that this might be extended with good effect; but it did not spread; the feeling and the enthusiasm denoted by such a badge would not have been partaken by the officers, and it might have raised a temper in the men unfavourable to any expected co-operation with their British allies.
♦Regulations concerning the ejected Religioners.♦
Another measure which the Government adopted at this time was intended to lessen the ill effect that the dispersion of so many monks and friars was likely to produce. The same calamities which had set them loose in every part of the country which the enemy had overrun, deprived them also of their accustomed means of subsistence; and it was but too probable that among those who took arms, as was very generally done by those who were able to bear them, the licence of a military life might lead to scandals which on every account it was desirable to prevent. A Junta therefore was formed of persons holding high stations in the different Religious Orders, the Prior of Zamora, who was one of the members of the Government, being appointed President. The business of this Junta was to dispose of those Religioners who, having been driven from their cloisters (the edict said), were crying night and day before the throne of a terrible God to revenge the blood of their innocent brethren, which had so wantonly been shed. They were to be distributed in towns, hospitals, and armies, as they might be deemed most qualified; and the Generals were instructed not to receive any persons of their profession unless they produced credentials or commissions from this board.
♦Plans of the Intrusive Government.♦
Six thousand men had been detached from La Mancha to reinforce Victor after the battle ♦April 9.♦ of Medellin. His instructions were to remain between Merida and Badajoz till he should receive advices of Soult’s movements, and till Lapisse should join him. The Intrusive Government persuaded themselves that the struggle would soon be over, and Joseph waited only to hear from Marshal Ney of the total destruction of Romana’s army, to give orders for marching against Valencia. But the tide had now turned in Galicia; there came no intelligence from Ney but what was disastrous; and Soult could neither communicate with Victor nor with Lapisse, neither could they at this time communicate with each other. Soult’s communication was cut off by Silveira on the Tamega, by Trant on the Vouga, ... and Sir Robert Wilson, by his position at Ciudad Rodrigo, cut off Lapisse equally from co-operating with his countrymen in Portugal or in Extremadura.
♦Sir Robert Wilson’s conduct at Ciudad Rodrigo.♦
Of how great importance that position was likely to become Mr. Frere had perceived as soon as Sir John Moore’s army began their dolorous retreat; and he had obtained from the Spanish Government such reinforcement for the garrison as could be spared at a time when demands for aid came upon them from all quarters. The command which they conferred upon Sir Robert Wilson, disposed as the Spaniards were to act heartily with him, was of more consequence than any succour which they could then afford. He meantime had spared no exertions for increasing his little force, and continuing to impose upon the enemy that useful opinion of its strength which they were known to entertain: for it was seen by their intercepted letters that they had applied for reinforcements under the fear of being attacked by him in Salamanca, where, they said, the inhabitants were as much to be dreaded as the enemy. Sir Robert circulated addresses inviting the Germans and Poles and Swiss in the French service to abandon an iniquitous cause into which they had been forced, and in which they had no concern. There was no press in the city, but the parochial clergy throughout the line of country which he occupied multiplied copies by transcription: many men were brought over by these means, and the enemy suffered not only from this continual drain, but from the suspicion and inquietude which was thus produced. Some stragglers from Sir John Moore’s army, and some prisoners from it who had effected their escape, joined him, having every where received from the peasantry every possible assistance and kindness; for that retreat had not lessened in the Spanish people their sense of gratitude towards Great Britain, nor their respect for the British character. Some convalescents also from Almeida were added to his numbers, and he obtained two reinforcements, each of a more extraordinary kind. A captain of banditti, with five-and-twenty followers, who had exercised their vocation in the country about Segovia, repaired to him, as men who preferred risking their lives in a legal and honourable way, and were desirous of doing good service in a good cause. The other party told a sadder tale. They were South Americans from the Plata, who having been made prisoners at Montevideo in the ill-advised and worse conducted expedition of the English to that province, had been landed in Spain, there to be neglected and left destitute by their own government. More than 200 had perished through want and misery, and the survivors were almost naked and pitiably emaciated with the privations and sufferings which they had endured. There were seven officers among them, who were all men of polished manners; and the soldiers were willing and well disposed, though deeply sensible of the cruelty and injustice with which they had been neglected.
♦Attempt to surprise that fortress.♦
Suspecting that the enemy would endeavour to reach Extremadura, get in Cuesta’s rear, and menace Portugal on that side, Sir Robert occupied the Puerto de Baños with a small force under Colonel Mayne. This was effected just in time, Lapisse having marched the greater part of his force to Alva de Tormes on the way thither, but finding it occupied, and not knowing in what strength, the French returned. This was a month before the battle of Medellin, at which time Sir Robert had gone to confer with General Cuesta, no one except the Governor of Ciudad Rodrigo being informed of his absence. Immediately after his return the French, having been reinforced at Salamanca, attempted to ♦March 2.♦ surprise Ciudad Rodrigo. A plan had been concerted with some traitors in the town, who, from an outwork that might easily be stormed, had thrown a bridge to the body of the place, so solidly constructed that Sir Robert had remonstrated against it as promoting their own destruction in case of an assault. Timely advice, however, came from the Corregidor of Salamanca; and the enemy, apprehending from the movements of Sir Robert’s troops that a counterplot had been formed with the intent of attempting Salamanca, and cutting off their retreat, fell back hastily, and not without loss. Treachery there had been; but as there was no proof who had been the traitors, Sir Robert took measures for removing the suspected persons without discrediting them.
♦The French summon it.♦
After it was known that Cuesta had fallen back from the Tagus to the Guadiana, and before tidings of his defeat had arrived, Sir Robert, who had been urging him to form a corps on the Tietar, and thereby preserve from the enemy a fertile part of the country which had not yet been overrun, withdrew his troops from the Puerto de Baños to collect them at Ciudad Rodrigo. Lapisse now brought together the whole remaining force under his command, which had been reduced to about 7000 men, advanced against that city, and summoned it. The officer by whom the summons was sent wished to enter the place with it, but a detachment of the Lusitanian Legion with four guns, under Lieutenant-Colonel Grant, had been stationed outside the works, and he was not permitted to proceed. Before the Governor’s answer could be given, the French, in disregard of the custom of war, continued advancing toward the gates, upon which a fire was opened upon them, and continued with effect till they halted. The Governor’s reply was, that he should not think of surrendering, even under a greater necessity than then appeared to exist. Some skirmishing took place, to the advantage of the garrison, and on the following day the enemy retreated, with some loss both in men and in reputation.
This movement of the French had been so little serious, that it was supposed they had expected some co-operation from Soult’s army. Soon afterwards, however, a second summons came in the name of the Intruder, holding out ♦March of Lapisse to unite with Victor.♦ threats to the garrison and inhabitants if they suffered themselves longer to be misled by a few British officers, and promising them King Joseph’s favour if they would open their gates. A verbal reply was returned, stating that the proper answer to such a summons was from the cannon’s mouth, and there the enemy would receive it if they chose to advance. At this time the peasantry, encouraged by the example of this brave garrison, had risen throughout a wide extent of country; and the situation of Lapisse was becoming critical, when by a movement ♦April 7.♦ which ought not to have been unexpected, he moved rapidly toward the Puerto de Perales. That pass he could hardly have forced, if it had been occupied; but Colonel Mayne could not reach it in time after the intention of the enemy was ascertained, and all that Sir Robert could do was to dispatch advices into Portugal, and harass their march by pursuing them with all speed, in the hope that when they arrived at Alcantara, where they must cross the Tagus, they would find it occupied by a sufficient force of Portugueze.
♦The French enter Alcantara.♦
The bridge at that point, which was then one of the durable monuments of Roman magnificence, has given name to a city of some renown, as the chief seat of one of the military orders famous in old times. The town is on the left bank, and the inhabitants, aware of danger, thought to avert it by defending the entrance of the bridge with a kind of abbatis, and breaking up the road to a depth of eighteen or twenty feet. These rude works not being defended by any regular force, nor with any skill or military means, were soon forced, and the town was entered. Lapisse had marked his whole route by the most wanton cruelties, in return for which every straggler who fell into the hands of the peasantry was put to death. He remained only during the night in Alcantara; but that night was employed in plunder, and in the commission of every crime by which humanity can be disgraced and outraged. Lieutenant-Colonel Grant and Don Carlos d’España (officers whose names appear often during the war, and always honourably), arrived near the town with a small body of cavalry in pursuit during the night, and entered it in the morning just after the enemy had left it. They found the houses in flames, and the streets literally obstructed with mutilated bodies, some lying in heaps, and others thrown upon piles of furniture and valuable goods, which the ruffians, having no means of removing, had brought out in front of the houses and set on fire. Dogs had been murdered like their masters, swine butchered for the mere pleasure of butchery, and their bodies heaped together in mockery with those of the human victims. The churches ♦Campaigns of the Lusitanian Legion, 65–68.♦ had been polluted as well as plundered, images mutilated, pictures, the value of which was not suspected by these destroyers, cut to pieces, graves opened in the hope of finding money or plate concealed there, even the very coffins violated, and the dead exposed.
♦Junction with Victor.♦
Victor’s force, after he had been joined by this division, amounted to 23,000 foot and 5800 horse. It was apprehended from some intercepted letters that he would immediately make for Seville, and Cuesta had formed his plan of defence accordingly. Portugal, however, was the object of the French, as a point of more importance at that time; but they had let the hour go by, and the English were now once more in the field.
CHAPTER XXI.
PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT RELATING TO THE WAR.
♦1809.
January.
During the first success of the Spaniards, the enemies of Government either were silent or joined faintly in the expression of national feeling which was heard from all parts of the united kingdoms. No sooner had the prospect begun to darken than their real wishes were disclosed, and, true to their belief in the omnipotence of Buonaparte, they expatiated upon the folly and insanity of opposing one against whom it was impossible that any resistance could be successful. They dwelt upon the consummate wisdom of his cabinet, the unequalled ability of his generals, the inexhaustible numbers of his armies, and their irresistible force; but they neither took into this account the character of the Spanish people, nor the nature of their country, nor the strength of moral principles and of a righteous cause, being ignorant alike of all. That faith in English courage, by which the fields of Cressy, and Poictiers, and Agincourt were won, and which in our own days we had seen proved, not only upon our own element, our empire of the seas, at the mouths of the Nile and at Cape Trafalgar, but before the walls of Acre, and in Egypt, and at Maida, and in Portugal; ... that faith which should ever be the first article of an Englishman’s creed, for while it is believed, so long is it true; ... that faith these men had abjured, and substituted in its place a political heresy, baneful as it was false, that upon land nothing could withstand the French. The world was made for Buonaparte, and he had only to march over it, and take possession. When they were reminded of this Tyrant’s guilt, they thought it a sufficient reply to tell us of his greatness, and would have had us fall down and worship the Golden Image at the very time when the Spaniards were walking amid the burning fiery furnace.
They began by predicting the failure of all our efforts, and the total ruin of the Spanish cause; laying down as “a proposition too plain to be disputed, that the spirit of the people, however enthusiastic and universal, was in its nature more uncertain and short-lived, more liable to be extinguished by reverses, or to go out of itself amid the delays of a protracted contest, than the steady, regular, moderate feeling which calls out disciplined troops, and marshals them under known leaders, and supplies them by systematic arrangements.” That it was in the power of England to assist the Spanish people with such troops, such leaders, and such arrangements, they had neither heart to feel nor understanding to perceive. They ridiculed the “romantic hopes of the English nation;” hopes, they said, which had been raised by “the tricks of a paltry and interested party.” Could any man of sense, they demanded, any one “above the level of a drivelling courtier, or a feeble fanatic, look at this contest, without trembling every inch of him for the result?”
But the baseness of party went beyond this. Not only were ministers blamed for what they had done in assisting Spain, and counselled to withdraw their assistance as speedily as possible, but the Spaniards themselves were calumniated and insulted. They had neither courage, nor honour, nor patriotism; no love for their country, nor any thing in their country worth defending. What mattered it to them whether their King were called Joseph or Ferdinand, a Buonaparte or a Bourbon? God would dispense sunshine and showers upon the peninsula, whoever was his vicegerent there; the corn and the olive would ripen, and the vine and the fig-tree yield their fruits. What folly then to contend for a feeble and oppressive government, of which the loss was gain! The Emperor of the French had rid them of this wretched government; he had abolished the Inquisition, reduced the monastic orders, and would suppress them and all other remaining grievances as soon as the obstinacy of the people would allow him leisure. And indeed the people were sensible of these benefits: ... a few chiefs, the overgrown aristocracy of the land, had for a while misled them; but those chiefs had only a little hour to strut and fret; and for the people, whose detestation of the French government had been carried to a pitch wholly unauthorized by its proceedings toward them, their eyes were opened now; they saw that Buonaparte was doing good; while, on the other hand, they regarded the English as heretics; and nothing could overcome the antipathy which this feeling occasioned.
The circumstances of Sir John Moore’s retreat, and the return of his army, were matter of triumph to the journalists of this shameless faction. “The dismal news,” they said, “was at last arrived! the truth of the bulletins was established to its utmost latitude! the pledge of throwing the English into the sea was almost to its literal meaning fulfilled! The Spanish Junta and their allies, after six months’ trifling, blundering, and vapouring, were now finally defeated! the spirit of patriotism, both in Spain and Portugal, was extinct! the majority of the Spaniards had all along been indifferent respecting the dynasty by which they were to be governed; yea, many were more attached to the Buonapartes than the Bourbons. The triumphs of France, the defeat and dispersion of the Spanish armies, wherever they were attacked, the retreat and discomfiture of the British forces, ... these were the melancholy events which concluded the fatal campaign of 1808, the fifth year of the war, ... this most unjust and unnecessary war, into which England, in violation of its own treaty with France, had rushed with equal eagerness and frenzy, and which she was now carrying on with the professed object of the preservation of the most corrupt branch of the Romish church!” Such was the language, not of the revolutionary propagandists alone, but of political faction and puritanical bigotry; while the condition in which the troops arrived, and the tale which they related, excited the feelings of the people, ♦Return of the army from Coruña.♦ and rendered it easy to mislead them. Never had such a scene of confusion and distress been witnessed at Plymouth as on the arrival of this miserable fleet. Above 900 women were landed, all ignorant whether their husbands were dead or living; they were searching through the transports, and officers and men in like manner looking after their wives, children, and friends. Of the wounded there were some whose wounds had never been dressed: many were brought on shore dead: some died in the streets, on their way to the hospitals. They who had escaped from any farther evil, having lost all their baggage, were, even the officers, covered with filth and vermin. Letters were written from the Medical Transport Board to all the surgical lecturers in London, requesting that their pupils would repair to the ports, and assist during the immediate emergency. The form of having passed the Hall was dispensed with, and nothing more required than a certificate from the lecturer whom they had attended. The people of Plymouth behaved on this occasion with the characteristic activity and beneficence of the English nation. A committee of gentlemen was immediately appointed, who sat night and day, providing food, clothing, and assistance. The ladies of the place attended the sick and wounded, and assisted in dressing the wounds: thus supplying the want of a sufficient number of medical men. Many a woman gave her only second garment to her who had none. A charitable fund was raised, and 1400 women and children belonging to the expedition received immediate relief. The inhabitants of Portsmouth had a less mournful task. That part of the army which landed there had not embarked from the field of battle; and they who were well enough to partake of festivity ♦Dr. Neale’s Travels, p. 217.♦ were feasted in the Town-Hall. The troops brought back with them a pestilential fever, which spread through the military hospitals, and raged for some months before it could be subdued.
♦Jan. 19.♦
Parliament met before the issue of Sir John Moore’s campaign was known, but it was understood that he was hastily retreating toward the coast with the intention of embarking, and intelligence was hourly looked for with fearful ♦The King’s speech.♦ expectation. The King’s speech was in a spirit suited to the times. He had given orders, he said, that the overtures from Erfurth should be laid before both Houses, and he was persuaded they would participate in the feelings which he had expressed when it was required that he should consent to commence the negotiation by abandoning the cause of Spain. So long as the people of that country remained true to themselves, so long would he continue to them his most strenuous assistance: and in the moment of their difficulties and reverses he had renewed to them the engagements which he had voluntarily contracted at the outset of their struggle. He had called his Parliament in perfect confidence that they would cordially support him in the prosecution of a war which there was no hope of terminating safely and honourably except through vigorous and persevering exertions. The various grades of opposition were distinctly marked in the debates ♦Lord Sidmouth.♦ which ensued. Lord Sidmouth said, that there prevailed among the people a feeling of dissatisfaction which was most honourable to them, because it arose from their zealous loyalty and generous desires. They were neither contented with the extent of the exertions which had been made to support the Spaniards, nor with the manner in which those exertions had been directed. Something, he trusted, would be done to allay this laudable discontent, while he avowed his full belief that it behoved us to prosecute the war with vigour. Such language was consistent with the constant tenor of Lord Sidmouth’s conduct; a man who never in a single instance allowed either personal or party feeling to prevail over his natural integrity. Earl St.
♦Earl St. Vincent.♦ Vincent agreed in the necessity of carrying on determined hostilities against the common enemy, but he condemned the ministers alike for what had been done, and what had been left undone. They had brought upon us, he said, the greatest disgrace which had befallen Great Britain since the Revolution. It appeared as if they had not even a geographical knowledge of the Peninsula, insomuch that they ought to go to school again, to make themselves masters of it. Why had there been that disgraceful delay before our troops were sent to Spain? Why had not some of our Princes of the blood been appointed to lead our armies? all those illustrious persons had been bred to arms, and for what purpose, if they were not to be employed? Why had not the Portugueze been called into action? He knew them well; they were as brave a people as any upon the continent of Europe, and under British officers would have presented an undaunted front to the enemy. Ministers ought to have known their value, and if they did not, their ignorance was inexcusable. If the House of Lords did its duty, they would go to the foot of the throne, and there tell the Sovereign the bold truth, that if he did not remove those ministers he would lose the country.
♦Lord Grenville.♦
Lord Grenville said there was but one opinion in the country concerning the base and treacherous, the atrocious and cruel invasion of the Spaniards; but one opinion as to the cause wherein they were fighting against the Tyrant who unjustly and cruelly attacked them; but there had been no prospect which should have induced reasonable men to send a British army into the interior of Spain, though fleets with troops on board, to hover about the coast, and take advantage of every favourable opportunity, might be of essential service. We had injured our allies instead of serving them. We had forced the Junta of Seville to abandon the excellent system of defence which they had arranged, and, by sending an army into the heart of the country, compelled them to engage in pitched battles with regular troops. Care must now be taken not to waste our resources in Quixotic schemes which it was impossible to accomplish. Our army, brave as it was, well-disciplined, and capable of doing every thing which men could be expected to perform, would find employment enough in securing our own defence. If the country was to be saved, its salvation could alone be effected by maintaining a force upon a scale commensurate with the increasing dangers of our situation. But, said he, I have no hesitation in declaring it to be my most decided opinion, that if the system hitherto acted upon be farther pursued, and the whole armed force of the country sent into the interior of Spain, the destruction of this monarchy is inevitable; and that we shall soon be reduced to the same condition with Prussia ♦Earl of Liverpool.♦ and the conquered states of the continent. To these speakers it was replied by the Home Secretary, who had now upon his father’s death become Earl of Liverpool, that it would ill become us to be dismayed by those reverses which were from the beginning to be expected, and to renounce that system of support to which the nation was solemnly pledged, and in which those very reverses made it a more sacred duty to persevere. He entreated those who were inclined to despond that they would call to mind the lessons of history. There it would be found, that nations, after maintaining struggles for ten or twenty years, in the course of which they had been almost uniformly worsted in battle, had eventually succeeded in securing the object for which they strove. It was difficult to conceive any situation which would better warrant hopes of ultimate success than that of Spain. The people were unanimous in their resistance to the invader; and it was the only instance since the French revolution in which a whole people had taken up arms in their own defence. The territory of Spain was as large as that of France within its ancient limits, and the country possessed many local advantages for defence, ... advantages, the value of which the Spanish history in former times ought to teach us duly to appreciate. The cause itself was most interesting to the best feelings of the human mind: it offered the last chance of salvation to the continent of Europe; and if it were considered in a selfish and narrower point of view, our own immediate security was in some degree involved in its fate. Was there then nothing to be risked in support of a generous ally? ... nothing for the re-establishment of the general tranquillity? ... nothing for our own safety and independence?
The opposition in the Lower House betrayed a wish to shake off the Spaniards and withdraw from the contest in whatever manner we could. ♦Mr. Ponsonby.♦ Never, said Mr. Ponsonby, since Great Britain attained its present rank, has its public force been directed with so little skill, so little foresight, or so little success; though, in the expenditure of public money, he believed none would accuse his Majesty’s counsellors with ever having been wanting in vigour. It was their duty now to examine whether they ought to risk an army in Spain, or confine their assistance to supplies. Elizabeth, under circumstances sufficiently like the present, took care to possess cautionary towns, and thereby assured herself of a retreat, and gained a safe point whither to send reinforcements, as well as a security that the United Provinces should not abandon her in the contest wherein they were engaged. He should not indeed think of abandoning the Spaniards in the hour of misfortune, but he could not admit that the present obligations were to be considered in the light of a solemn treaty; they had been entered into in a moment of hurry and precipitation; they had not been laid before Parliament, and were therefore unauthorized by it, and Parliament might approve or disapprove, grant or refuse the supplies ♦Mr. Whitbread.♦ for carrying them into effect. Mr. Whitbread declared that if the recent disasters should appear to have proceeded from the misconduct of ministers, the House ought to demand condign punishment on their heads. It was now doubtful whether we had not been proceeding upon false information both with respect to Spain and Portugal. Were our troops agreeable to the people of Portugal? or were we not obliged to keep a certain force there for the purpose of keeping that people quiet, that is, to strike terror into our friends instead of our enemies? Were our troops, or were they not, welcome to the people of Spain? He had reason to doubt that fact. He was fearful that a multitude of Spaniards wished success to Buonaparte rather than to us. Although we must condemn the injustice of Buonaparte in his attack upon Spain, yet his measures were extremely judicious. He abolished the Inquisition, feudal rights, and unequal taxation. This was certainly holding out some temptation to the people to acquiesce in the changes which he wished to introduce, and unquestionably it had produced great effect. The government which England supported was not connected with any thing like a promise of the reform of any of the evils of the old system, nor with any thing like a melioration of the condition of the Spaniards. God forbid that we should abandon their cause while it was possible to support it with any prospect of success; but he was far from being sure that the time might not come when we should have to treat with France after she had totally subdued Spain. Ministers were justified in refusing to treat on the terms offered at Erfurth; indeed they must have been the basest of mankind if they had accepted such a preliminary. But he could not avoid regretting that the country had lost so many fair opportunities of negotiating a peace, and that it had at length been reduced to so foul a one that it could not have been accepted without eternal disgrace. Mr. William Smith said, with a similar feeling, that though he concurred in the propriety of rejecting the last offer of negotiation, he by no means meant to declare that the country ought never to commence another while Spain was in the hands of the French government.
This first debate made it apparent that the cause of the Spaniards, in which all Britain had appeared to partake so universal and generous a sympathy, was now regarded by a party in the state as a party question; and that because ministers, true to the interest of their country, and to its honour (of all interests the most important), were resolved to continue faithful to the alliance which they had formed with Spain, there were men who felt little concern for what Europe and liberty and human nature would lose if Buonaparte should succeed in bowing the Spaniards beneath his yoke, and who looked on with ill-dissembled hope to the advantage which such a catastrophe might give them over their parliamentary opponents. Their disposition was more broadly manifested when the overtures from Erfurth were discussed, and an address moved approving the answer which had been ♦Debates on the Overtures from Erfurth.
Jan. 26.♦ returned. They admitted that the overtures were insincere, and could not possibly have led to peace, and yet they took occasion to carp and cavil at what they could not in common decency oppose.
♦Lord Grenville.♦
♦Lord Auckland.♦
In the Upper House a feeling of utter hopelessness was expressed with sincere regret by Lord Grenville and Lord Auckland: the former asserted that Buonaparte went to Spain with the moral certainty of effecting its subjugation, the most important object of any that he had yet had in view; and that in the course of two months he actually had attained that object. The latter affirmed, that what we called the Spanish cause was lost, for the present at least, and without any rational hope that it could be ♦Mr. Canning. Jan. 31.♦ soon revived. To such opinions Mr. Canning alluded, saying, it was said that whenever Buonaparte declared he would accomplish any measure, his declaration was to be received as the fiat of a superior being, whom it was folly to resist! He never pledged himself to any thing but what he could accomplish! His resolves were insurmountable! His career not to be stopped! Such, said the orator, is not my opinion, nor the opinion of the British people. Even were the ship in which we are embarked sinking, it would be our duty still to struggle against the element. But never can I acknowledge that this is our present state. We are riding proudly and nobly buoyant upon the waves! To the argument that we ought, as Buonaparte had done, to have held out a prospect of political reform to the Spaniards, he replied we had no right to assume any dictatorial power over a country which we went to assist. We were not to hold cheap the institutions of other countries because they had not ripened into that maturity of freedom which we ourselves enjoyed; nor were we to convert an auxiliary army into a dominating garrison; nor, while openly professing to aid the Spaniards, covertly endeavour to force upon them those blessings of which they themselves must be the best judges. If the Spaniards succeeded, they would certainly be happier and freer than they had hitherto been; but that happiness and freedom must be of their own choice, not of our dictation. The Central Junta was not indifferent to this prospective good, for it called upon all literary men to contribute their assistance in suggesting such laws as might best be enacted for the good of the state. If the suggestion of such laws were to accompany a subsidy, he doubted much whether it would meet with assent: and sure he was that the Spaniards could not but dislike them, if dictated at the point of the bayonet. In these enlightened days, said he, the imposition of a foreign dynasty is not regarded with so much abhorrence, as it is considered what useful internal regulations the usurpers may introduce! So detestable a mode of reasoning is confined to only a few political speculators; the general sense and feeling of mankind revolt at it. There is an irresistible impulse which binds men to their native soil; which makes them cherish their independence; which unites them to their legitimate princes; and which fires them with enthusiastic indignation against the imposition of a foreign yoke. No benefit to be received from a conqueror can atone for the loss of national independence. Let us then do homage to the Spanish nation for their attachment to their native soil; an attachment which in its origin is divine; ... and do not let us taunt them with being a century behind us in civilization or in knowledge, or adhering to prejudices in religion, in politics, or in arts, which we have happily surmounted.
♦Lord H. Petty.♦
The more moderate opposition members, such as Mr. Ponsonby and Lord Henry Petty, agreed that the government had taken a proper course in demanding an explanation with regard to Spain before any negotiation was commenced. ♦Mr. Whitbread.♦ But Mr. Whitbread said he lamented that the offer had been so abruptly put an end to. Even in breaking with France it was better to break with her in a spirit of as little acrimony as possible, ... for let gentlemen say what they would, we must ultimately treat with France, ... to this complexion we must come at last; and it would not be easy to say when we might calculate upon even as good terms as we had been offered in the late overture. With respect to Spain, the hopes he once had were nearly gone; and the various reports from different quarters, from some of the want of wisdom in the government, from others of want of energy in the people, were not calculated to revive them. Perhaps before this Portugal was reconquered. Buonaparte was hastening to fulfil all his prophecies. If ever we wished for peace, with this man probably we must make it, and it was always wrong to use insulting language towards him; the least price of peace would be for us to use something like decorous language to a power which was perhaps the greatest that had ever existed on the face of the world. And it was extraordinary indeed that a government which had committed the attack upon Copenhagen should call the usurpation of Spain unparalleled! It really carried with it an air of ridicule. Why should we talk of atrocity? Why should we blasphemously call on our God ... we, the ravagers of India, ... we who had voted the solemn thanks of the House to the despoilers of that unhappy, persecuted country?
Thus did Mr. Whitbread attempt, ... not indeed to justify Buonaparte, few of his admirers had at that time sufficient effrontery for this, ... but to defend him by the yet viler method of recrimination; to apologize for his crimes by the false assertion that England had perpetrated crimes as great; to stand forth as the accuser of his country; and to disarm it, as far as his ability and his influence might avail, of its moral strength, and of its hope in God and a good cause. Six months before he had prayed God to crown the efforts of the Spaniards with success ♦Vol. i. p. 449.♦ as final as those efforts were glorious. “Never,” he then said, “were a people engaged in a more arduous and honourable struggle. Perish the man,” he then exclaimed, “who would entertain a thought of purchasing peace by abandoning them to their fate! Perish this country rather than its safety should be owing to a compromise so horridly iniquitous!” It was now apparent that the sympathy which had been thus strongly expressed had not been very deep. He moved as an amendment upon the address, that though we should have witnessed with regret any inclination to consent to the abandonment of the cause of Spain, it did not appear that any such disgraceful concession was required as a preliminary by the other belligerent powers. The stipulation, therefore, on our part, that the Spaniards should be admitted as a party, was unwise and impolitic; an overture made in respectful terms ought to have been answered in more moderate and conciliatory language, and immediate steps taken for entering into negotiation on the terms proposed in that overture. The amendment concluded by requesting that his Majesty would be graciously pleased to avail himself of any opportunity which might offer of acceding to, or commencing a negotiation for the restoration of the blessings of peace, on such terms as the circumstances of the war in which we were engaged might render compatible with the true interests of the empire, and the honour of his Majesty’s crown.
♦Mr. Croker.♦
The proposed amendment provoked a severe reply from Mr. Croker. He exposed the inconsistency of the mover, who in his letter to Lord Holland, when he had stated his opinion that it became the Government at that time to negotiate, recommended that “the complete evacuation of Spain by the French armies, the abstinence from all interference in her internal arrangements, and the freedom of the Royal Family, should be the conditions of the negotiation.” Mr. Croker commented also with just indignation upon the strain of argument which Mr. Whitbread had pursued. “He has set out,” said he, “by doing Buonaparte the favour of trying to find a parallel for his attack on Spain; and he boasts of having found many. But in the registers of British discussion, in the recollections of British feeling, I defy the honourable gentleman to find a parallel for his own speech, ... a speech calculated only to plead the enemy’s cause. I do not mean to represent him as intentionally their advocate; but I will assert that, whether intentionally or not, he has taken that course by seeking for examples which might keep the French government in countenance. But even if he were not so deeply to blame for ♦1809.
February.♦ this, ... supposing even that this course was necessary to his argument, ... even then he had been in error: he had produced no parallel instance; the history of the world did not furnish one; and he had fruitlessly gone out of the path to weaken the cause of his country.”
♦Mr. Whitbread’s speech circulated by the French government.♦
Mr. Whitbread’s amendment was so little in accord with the feelings even of his colleagues in opposition, that it was not put to the vote. But his speech was so favourable to Buonaparte, and so suited to the furtherance of his purposes, that the French government availed themselves of it. A very few omissions adapted it to the meridian of Paris; it was translated, inserted in the provincial papers as well as those of the capital, and circulated through France and those countries which were under its dominion or its influence. To deceive the French and the people of the continent by the official publication of false intelligence was part of Buonaparte’s system; but no fabrication could so well have served his purpose as thus to tell them that an English statesman, one of the most eminent of the Whigs, of the old advocates of liberty, a leading member of the House of Commons, had declared in that House that the overtures of peace made by France were unexceptionable, and had been unwisely, impoliticly, and unnecessarily answered with insult; that Buonaparte, wielding the greatest power which had ever existed, was hastening to fulfil all his prophecies; that England must be reduced to treat with him at last, and therefore that the King of England ought to be advised by his Parliament to commence a negotiation as soon as possible upon such terms as circumstances might permit!
♦Debates on the Portugueze campaign.♦
The debates upon the campaign in Portugal and the Convention of Cintra terminated in confirming by the sense of Parliament the opinion which the Court of Inquiry had pronounced. Events indeed had followed in such rapid succession, that the Convention having been regarded only as to immediate interests, not with reference to principles which are of eternal application, seemed like a subject obsolete and out of date. Ministers derived another advantage from the manner in which they were attacked. No man could blame them, except in the mere spirit of opposition, for having sent an expedition to Portugal; the public sense of what had been lost by the armistice sufficiently proved the wisdom of its destination; and that the force had been sufficient for its object we had the decisive authority of Sir Arthur Wellesley, and the complete evidence of the victory which he had gained. The discussions upon the expedition to Spain were more frequent ♦Both parties agree in extolling Sir J. Moore.♦ and more angry. Both parties, however, as soon as the subject was brought forward, agreed in voting the thanks of Parliament to the army for their services, and a monument to the General. It had been the intention of Government to make a provision for the female part of Sir John Moore’s family; but upon an intimation of their wish that it might be transferred to a male branch, a pension of a thousand pounds was granted to his elder brother. This was a becoming act of national generosity; but the opposition eagerly consecrated, and as it were canonized, the memory of Sir John Moore, that they might impute the whole misconduct of the campaign, with all its loss and its disgrace, to Government; and the ministers, always willing to avert a harassing investigation, were well pleased that their opponents should thus preclude themselves from pressing it upon military grounds.
♦Inquiry into the campaign in Spain called for.♦
Inquiry, however, was called for, not upon that reasonable ground, but in the avowed hope that it would prove the ministry guilty of that utter misconduct for which their enemies so ♦Lord Grenville.♦ loudly and exultingly arraigned them. Lord Grenville said it was indeed a sinking country if such mismanagement were suffered to continue in the midst of our unexampled perils and difficulties. The hand of Providence appeared to be on us. Within three years we had lost the two great statesmen in whom the nation reposed its confidence, an admiral who had carried our navy to a pre-eminence which it never before enjoyed, and now a great military chieftain, whose talents were of the first order. “Was it ♦Lord Erskine.♦ possible,” Lord Erskine asked, “to deplore the loss of friends whom we loved, and of men whose lives were precious to their country, without lamenting in bitterness that they were literally immolated by the ignorance and folly of those who now wished to cover their own disgrace by the just and natural feelings of the public towards men who had died for their native land? But for their immortal renown, it would have been better for them, certainly much better for their country, to have shot them upon the parade of St. James’s Park, than to have sent them, not to suffer the noble risk of soldiers, in a practicable cause, but to endure insufferable, ignoble, and useless misery, in a march to the very centre of Spain, where for them to attack was impracticable, and to retreat only possible, by unparalleled exertions: and what sort of retreat? ... a retreat leaving upon the roads and in the mountains of Spain from 8000 to 9000 of our brave men, dying of fatigue, without one act of courage to sweeten the death of a soldier. What could, then, be a more disgusting and humiliating spectacle, than to see the government of this great empire, in such a fearful season, in the hands of men who seemed not fit to be a vestry in the smallest parish?”
♦Feb. 24. Mr. Ponsonby.♦
Mr. Ponsonby insisted that it was the duty of ministers, before they engaged in such a contest, to have ascertained the real state of Spain. It was not sufficient to know that monks could excite some of the poorer and more ignorant people to insurrection. The disposition and views of the upper classes, who from their rank and property possess a natural influence, ought to have been ascertained; and, above all, the inclination of that middle class which is every where the great bond and cement of connexion between the higher and lower orders. Some information too they might have collected from history before they ventured upon sending an army into Spain: for, as far as history went, they would not find much to encourage them in relying upon the character of the Spaniards for cordial or active co-operation in such a contest. “I am not disposed,” said he, “to speak disrespectfully of the Spaniards; but history does not represent them as remarkable for that daring, enthusiastic, high-spirited disposition which prompts and qualifies men to make a great struggle for freedom and independence. The most powerful principles to excite mankind have uniformly been religion and liberty: have either been found materially to operate upon the recent movements of the Spanish people? These are the only principles which have ever served to excite the noble daring, the heroic resolution to conquer or die; and it was necessary therefore to inquire whether they were actuated by both, or by either, to calculate upon the probability of their success in the war. If they were influenced by neither of these motives, how could any reflecting man look for energy, zeal, or perseverance among them? Let me not be misinterpreted. I do not desire that they, or any people, should become wild or mad, and destroy society itself in order to improve its condition; that in order to remove abuses they should tear away all their ancient institutions; that in order to reform religion they should destroy Christianity itself; but I do say, while the Inquisition existed, that if the Spaniards were not sensible of the multitude of abuses which pressed upon them, if they felt not a wish to reform abuses and to restore their rights, and were not willing, for that reformation and restriction, to encounter all the dangers and endure all the difficulties inseparable from the species of warfare in which they were engaged; I say, that if this people were not actuated by the wish for, and encouraged by the hope of an improved condition, it was impossible for any statesman, for any man of common sense, to suppose that they would fight with success. If they were insensible of the cause of their degradation, and indifferent as to its removal, it was in vain for England to calculate upon materially exciting the spirit, or effectually aiding the exertions of such a people.”
Then, after intimating a belief that Sir John Moore had acted against his own judgment, and in consequence only of Mr. Frere’s repeatedly urging him to advance, he asked whether the Spaniards had been found willing and cordial in their assistance to the British army? whether they had received them as deliverers and guests, or with jealousy and fear? “Perhaps,” he continued, “ministers may say that the Spaniards did not discover all that cordiality which was expected. But can it be permitted that they shall say this after they have involved the country in such a ruinous, unproductive, and inglorious struggle? For let us not forget this, that, although we have obtained renown for our military bravery, England has for ever lost its character as a military nation. Were you to propose to send your soldiers again, as an encouragement and aid to other foreign powers, what would be the answer? It would be, ‘No! Your troops are good; your officers are skilful and courageous; but there is something in the councils of England, or in the nature and manner of the application of her force, that renders it impossible ever to place any reliance upon her military assistance.’ When you appeared in Holland and Germany as auxiliaries, you failed; true it is, your force in these cases was comparatively small, and the question remained undecided. The problem is solved, however, by what has passed in Spain. You professed to send forth the largest army that ever went from England, for the purpose of meeting the force of France; and what has been the result? A shameful retreat before the armies of France, and a disgraceful desertion of the power you wished to assist. This campaign, I say, will have an influence upon the character of England long after all of us shall cease to live. I ask the House, then, to institute an inquiry. I call upon the country to seek for one, in order to show how much distress, difficulties, dangers, and perils unexampled, our soldiers have endured in this fruitless and inglorious struggle. I call upon you, by the gratitude you owe to those who were thus shamefully sacrificed at Coruña, ... by that which you owe to their companions in arms, who are still in existence, and able and willing to defend their country; I call upon you, by the interest you take in those who yet remain, to institute this inquiry, in order that they may not be sacrificed by similar misconduct upon a future occasion. I call upon you, as you value the glory of our country, the preservation of our future power and reputation, as well as our interest, by every thing that can excite the exertions of brave men, to institute this investigation.”
♦Lord Castlereagh.♦
Lord Castlereagh, in his reply to this speech, observed with sarcastic truth, there could not be a greater mistake than to suppose they who called for inquiry meant that they wanted information. It happened, however, that by pronouncing upon facts of which he was imperfectly ♦Mr. Tierney.♦ informed, Mr. Tierney was led into a course of argument most unfavourable to the intentions of himself and those who acted with him. Why, he demanded, had not the 10,000 men who were embarked been sent forward with all speed to Sir John Moore’s assistance? On board the transports they were, and Lord Castlereagh took them out. Had they been sent, Sir John might have been still alive, and a real diversion then have been effected; for our army might for some time have maintained itself in Coruña, and have obliged the enemy to turn their whole attention to that quarter. The loss which we had sustained in our retreat, he said, was carefully glossed over, but he understood that it was at least from 8,000 to 10,000 men. Such a scene of woe, indeed, had scarcely ever been heard of. Think of blowing up the ammunition, destroying three or four hundred waggons, staving the dollar casks, leaving the artillery to be cast away, and the Shrapnell shells to the French, who would thus discover their composition! He meant not to ascribe these disasters in the smallest degree to the General: all might have been avoided, if only 10,000 men had been sent to his support. Inquiry, therefore, was more than ever necessary; and by the result of that night’s debate Great Britain would judge of the character of the House of Commons. That House ought to convince the army that, though they might be exposed to unavailing exertions, and useless hardships, by the mismanagement of ignorant councils, they had protection in Parliament, who would never be slow in attending to their interest and their comforts. Unless the officers of the army had this support to look to, all would with them be absolute despair; for, with the exception of some of the connexions of ministers, there was not an officer who came home from the expedition who did not vent execrations against the authors of it ... there was not a man engaged in that retreat of unparalleled hardship who did not curse those who placed them in such a situation.
The fact was as Mr. Tierney stated it; ... he was only mistaken in imputing it to the government. Four regiments and two troops of horse artillery were actually on board, and had been disembarked. Five more regiments of cavalry were under orders for Spain, and would have been dispatched as soon as the transports could return for them. Nor had Mr. Tierney overstated the advantages which might have been expected had they arrived at the scene of action. On the contrary, far more important results than that of maintaining Coruña for a time must have ensued, if the British army had found these reinforcements there, even if it could be supposed that the retreat would have been made with such desperate precipitance, the General knowing he had such support at hand. He would then have retreated like one who was falling back upon his reinforcements, not flying to his ships. Broken in strength as the army was by severe exertion and excessive sufferings, broken in spirit too and almost in heart by the manner of its retreat, it had beaten the pursuers in fair battle, and 10,000 fresh troops would have turned the tide. Galicia would have been delivered from the enemy, Portugal saved from invasion, and Soult’s army have been cut off, unless they could have crossed the mountains faster in flight than they had done in pursuit. Ministers would indeed have deserved the imputation so confidently cast on them by their opponents, if these advantages had been lost by their misconduct. Mr. Canning stated in their defence, that the reinforcements had been countermanded by the Generals, and empty transports sent out in conformity to their distinct requisition. “It was an afflicting circumstance,” said he, “to send out empty, for the purpose of bringing off the army, those ships which had been filled for the purpose of reinforcing it. Among all the decisions to which I have been a party, no one has ever in the course of my life occurred which gave me more pain than this; ... every dictate of the understanding was tortured, every feeling was wrung by it. But his Majesty’s ministers had no choice. They felt that it would excite dissatisfaction in England and dismay in Spain; and yet they had no alternative.”
♦Mr. Canning.♦
Mr. Canning then proceeded to examine the more general arguments of Mr. Ponsonby. “It had been argued,” he said, “that before the assistance of this country had been given to Spain, we ought to have ascertained whether or not the Spaniards were instigated by the monks; whether they were encouraged by the higher ranks; whether they were wedded to their ancient institutions, or disposed to shake off the oppression of their former government; to abjure the errors of a delusive religion; and to forswear the Pope and the Grand Inquisitor. The policy of his Majesty’s government was different. They felt that the Spanish nation wanted other and more aids than lectures on municipal institutions; they were content that a British army should act in Spain, though the Grand Inquisitor might have been at the head of the Spanish armies; though the people might have been attached to their ancient monarchy, and with one hand upheld Ferdinand VII., whilst with the other they worshipped the Lady of the Pillar. God forbid we should be so intolerant as to make a conformity to our own opinions the price of our assistance to others, in their efforts for national independence; to carry the sword in one hand, and what we may choose to call the Rights of Man in the other! But the enthusiasm of the Spaniards was not pretended; what they had in their mouths, they felt in their hearts: they were enthusiastically determined to defend their country to the last extremity, or to perish under its ruins. The cause was not desperate; the spirit of the people was unsubdued; the boundaries of French power were confined within the limits of their military posts; the throne of Joseph was erected on sand, and would totter with the first blast; and Buonaparte, even should he succeed, instead of a yielding and unreproaching ally, would have an impatient, revolting, and turbulent nation to keep down. The cause was not therefore desperate, because our army of 30,000 or 40,000 men had been obliged to withdraw; and it was not just to the country, or to the army, which he hoped would again prove the stay and bulwark of Europe, to assert that its honour was in consequence gone for ever. All the energy of liberty, and all the sacredness of loyalty, still survived; and the Spanish revolution was, he trusted, destined by Providence to stand between posterity and French despotism, and to show to the world, that, amidst the paroxysms of freedom, a monarch might still be loved. If, therefore, ministers could show that these were the feelings by which they were influenced, and that they had acted up to these feelings, their justification would be complete; and he was convinced that the liberal and disinterested measures of his Majesty’s government towards Spain were more congenial to British feeling, and more honourable to the national character, than if they had set out in their career of assistance by picking up golden apples for ourselves. For himself, as an humble individual of the government, and having a share in these transactions, the recollection would be a source of gratification which he should carry with him to the grave. If we had been obliged to quit Spain, we had left that country with fresh laurels blooming upon our brows; and whatever failure there had been upon the whole might still be repaired. If that was to be brought forward as the ground for accusation, he stood there for judgement. The object of the motion was to take the reins of government out of the hands of those who held them; and upon that ground he desired that the present ministers might be judged by comparison. Was it the pleasure of the House that Spain should be abandoned? Was it a principle agreed upon, that the direction of government should be committed to other hands? Was it then a settled opinion, that there was something fatal in the will, and irresistible in the power of Buonaparte? and was the world to submit to his tyrannous resolves, as to a divine infliction? Whatever might be the fruits of Buonaparte’s victories in other respects, the spirit of the Spanish nation was yet unsubdued. His fortune, no doubt, had been augmented; but still it was fortune, not fate; and therefore not to be considered unchangeable and fixed. There was something unworthy in the sentiment that would defer to this fortune, as to the dispensations of Providence; looking upon it as immutable in its nature, and irresistible by human means:—
‘Te
Nos facimus Fortuna Deam, cœloque locamus.’”
This was a triumphant reply. The arguments of the opposition had been so misdirected, that there was no occasion of subterfuge, sophistry, or the shield of a majority to baffle them: they were refutable by a plain statement of facts, where they relied on facts, ... by an appeal to principles and feelings, where they pretended to philosophy. Mr. Canning spoke from his heart. There was nothing which he was required to extenuate or to exaggerate; all that was needful was a manly avowal of what had been done, and of the reasons why it had been done. He had a good cause to plead, and he pleaded it with a force and eloquence worthy of the occasion. The same cause was in effect ♦Mr. Windham.♦ pleaded by Mr. Windham, though he took his place in the opposition ranks, and voted for the inquiry as an opposition question. “Our expedition to Spain,” he said, “had been so managed as to produce what was much worse than nothing. What we called our best army had retreated from the field without striking a blow, on the mere rumour of the enemy’s advance. We had shown them that our best troops could do nothing, and therefore that there was little chance of their undisciplined peasantry succeeding better. There were two courses which might have been pursued, either that of striking a blow upon the Ebro while the enemy were weak and their attention distracted, ... or, if this were hopeless, of proceeding at once upon some general plan with a view to the final deliverance of the Peninsula. The first was a mere question on which few but those in office could have the means of judging. But if the force sent to the Ebro had (as it ought to have been) been chiefly cavalry (which the enemy most wanted, and we could best spare), such a force, even if it had been found insufficient for its immediate object, could have retired in safety to that part of the Peninsula where, at all events, and in every view, the great mass of our force should be collected ... the neighbourhood of Cadiz and Gibraltar. These were the only two places from which a large body of troops, when pressed by a superior army, could hope to get away; and there was no other part of Spain to which a British army, large enough to be of any use, could with propriety be trusted.
“There, therefore,” Mr. Windham continued, “I would have collected the greatest force that this country could by any possibility have furnished. There was no reason why we might not have had an army of 100,000. An hundred thousand men, with Gibraltar to retreat upon, was a far less risk to the country than 30,000 in the situation in which the ministry had placed them; nay, than 30,000 in the very situation spoken of; because a general must be miserably deficient in knowledge of his business, who, in such an abundant country, and with such a fortress behind him, would, with an army of that amount, suffer himself to be prevented from making good his retreat, by any force which the enemy could bring against him. For when we talked of Buonaparte’s numbers, we must recollect where those numbers were to act. To meet in the south of Spain a British force of 100,000, Buonaparte must bring over the Pyrenees a force of not less than 200,000; to say nothing of the demand that would be made upon him by the Spanish army which might be raised in that part of Spain, to co-operate with the British, and which the presence of such a British force would help to raise. Buonaparte would have a whole kingdom, which he must garrison, behind him, if he would either be sure of his supplies, or make provision against total destruction, in the event of any reverse. He must fight us at arm’s-length, while our strength would be exerted within distance, with an impregnable fortress at hand, furnishing a safe retreat in case of disaster, and a source of endless supply, by means of its safe and undisturbable communication with this country. And let it not be said, that while the army continued in the south, Buonaparte might continue master of the north. What mastery could he have of any part of Spain, while such an army could keep on foot in any other? And why, in case of success, did the security of its retreat require that it should never advance? There was never any thing so demonstrable, therefore, as that the only way of carrying on effectually a campaign in Spain, whatever else you might have done, was to collect your army in the south. A force raised to the greatest possible amount to which the mind and means of the country, ... then elevated above itself, and exalted to something of a preternatural greatness, ... could have carried it, should have been placed where it would have been safe from the risk of total loss, and would not have been kept down by the idea that the deposit was too great for the country to hazard. This should have been the great foundation, the base line of the plan of the campaign. On this the country might have given a loose to all its exertions, with the consolatory reflection, that the greater its exertions, the greater its security, ... the more it made its preparations effectual to their purpose, the less was the risk at which it acted.”
Mr. Windham then censured in strong terms the neglect of those opportunities which our command at sea had offered upon the eastern coast of Spain; “a coast,” he said, “which was placed as the high road for the entry of troops from France, which was every where accessible for our ships, and which was inhabited by the race of men who fought at Gerona and Zaragoza. Total forgetfulness could alone explain this most unaccountable neglect. But the great and pregnant source of error in ministers,” he observed, “besides the fault of not knowing better, was that which they had in common with many other ministers, and which he had signally witnessed in some of his own time, ... that of mistaking bustle for activity, and supposing that they were doing a great deal, when they were only making a great deal of noise, and spending a great deal of money. They looked at every measure, not with a view to the effect which it was to produce abroad, but to the appearance which it was to make at home.” He then spoke of the campaign in Spain more fairly than either party had ventured to represent it. “He could not,” he said, “help perceiving in the conduct of this war, and certainly in much of the language held about it, a certain mixture of that error which prevailed in many years of the last, of looking to other powers for what ought to have been our own work. We did not set our shoulders to the wheel, as people would who estimated truly what the exertions of this country could do, when fairly put forth. In this point there was a want of confidence in ourselves; ... in another there was a want, not merely of generosity, but of common justice toward our allies. There could be nothing more fallacious than to estimate the feelings of a country towards any cause by the feelings excited in that part of it which should be exposed to the immediate pressure of an army. If the scene of war lay in England, and we had an army of allies, or even of our own countrymen, acting for our defence, they would not be very popular in the places where they were quartered or encamped; and there would not be wanting complaints among the farmers whose provisions were consumed, whose hen-roosts were plundered, whose furniture was stolen, whose ricks were set on fire, and whose wives and daughters might not always escape insult, that the French themselves could not do them greater mischief. Now, if this were true, as infallibly it would be, of English troops upon English ground, might we not suppose that a good deal more of the same sort would happen when English troops were on Spanish ground, where every cause of dissatisfaction must be aggravated a thousand-fold, by difference of habits and manners, and the want of any common language, by which the parties might understand one another? It must be confessed, too, he was afraid, that we were not the nation who accommodated ourselves best to strangers, or knew best how to conciliate their good will: and when to all this was added, that we were a retreating army, and an army compelled to retreat with extraordinary rapidity, and much consequent disorder, it would not be surprising if neither we appeared to the people, nor they to us, in the most advantageous form. Nor were the inhabitants of the towns and villages on the line of our march to be considered as a fair representation of the feelings and sentiments of the mass of people in Spain. On many occasions the soldiers, at the end of a long march, had nothing provided for them to eat, and were obliged to help themselves. The inhabitants, whether they staid or had fled, had locked up their houses, and nothing was to be got but by breaking them open; and when once soldiers, whether from necessity or otherwise, began to break open houses, farther irregularities must be expected. Galicia was probably an unfair specimen of what was to be looked for from the rest of Spain; not so much from the character of the inhabitants, as from the state of society there, where the gentry were few, and of little influence; and where there was almost a total want of those classes which might direct and methodize the exertions of the lower orders. But to talk of the Spaniards generally, as wanting in zeal, or courage, or determination to defend their country, was more than any one would venture, after such examples as Zaragoza. A defence had there been made, so far exceeding what was to be expected from a regular army, that a general in this country would have been made a peer for having surrendered Zaragoza, in circumstances far short of those in which its inhabitants defended it.”
There was an English spirit in this speech, such as might have been looked for from Mr. Windham: for if sometimes he seemed to delight in making with perverse ingenuity the worse appear the better reason, and treated as a sport for the intellect subjects which deserved a serious and severe feeling, no political views or enmities ever betrayed him into an unworthy act, or sentiment inconsistent with his natural generosity. The motion for inquiry was rejected; but whatever papers were called for were granted, though Lord Liverpool warned his opponents, that if they insisted upon making ♦Sir John Moore’s dispatches.♦ some of these documents public, they would perceive the impropriety when it was too late. They found in these papers what they wanted, ... an assertion broadly made by Sir John Moore, “that the Spaniards had neither the power nor the inclination to make any efforts for themselves. To convince the people of England, as well as the rest of Europe, of this,” he said, “it was necessary to risk his army, and for that reason he made the march to Sahagun. As a diversion,” he continued, “it succeeded. I brought the whole disposable force of the French against this army, and it has been allowed to follow me, without a single movement being made to favour my retreat. The people of Galicia, though armed, made no attempt to stop the passage of the French through the mountains. They abandoned their dwellings at our approach, drove away their carts, oxen, and every thing that could be of the smallest aid to the army. The consequence has been, that our sick have been left behind: and when our horses or mules failed, which, on such marches, and through such a country, was the case to a great extent, baggage, ammunition, stores, and even money, were necessarily destroyed or abandoned.” This was a heavy charge against the Spaniards, and it was triumphantly repeated by those who, being the opponents of ministry, became thereby the enemies of the Spanish cause. Yet it might have occurred to them that it was neither generous nor prudent to reproach an undisciplined peasantry for not attempting to defend defiles through which the finest army that had ever left England, with a man who was supposed to be their best general at its head, was retreating faster than ever army had retreated before. If these passes were not defensible, why should the Galicians be condemned for not defending them? If they were, why did the British army run through, leaving their baggage, stores, and ammunition, their money, their horses, their sick, their dying, and their dead, to track the way?
This accusation against our allies the opposition had expected to find; but they had not looked for a heavier charge against the army itself from the same authority, ... a charge too which, if any thing more than the consternation and flight of the British force had been required to excuse the Galicians, would have supplied it. For the General added in this unhappy dispatch, “I am sorry to say, that the army whose conduct I had such reason to extol on its march through Portugal, and on its arrival in Spain, has totally changed its character since it began to retreat. I can say nothing in its favour, but that when there was a prospect of fighting the enemy, the men were then orderly, and seemed pleased, and determined to do their duty.” “Of what nature,” it was asked, “was this misconduct with which General Moore so roundly accused a whole army, almost with his dying breath? Did the officers behave ill, or the men, or both? Did they refuse to fight, or did they refuse to fly? What had they done, or what had they omitted to do?” These questions were asked by the wiser part of the public, and the narratives of the campaign, which were afterwards published, amply answered them. It then appeared that the army, from the hour in which it was turned into a rout, considered themselves like sailors after a shipwreck, released from all discipline by the common ruin; ... that they plundered, burnt, and destroyed before them; ... that while many of the officers murmured against the conduct of the commander, the men cried out loudly against the disgrace of running away; ... that order, discipline, temperance, and even humanity, were laid aside by them in their desperation: but that they had never forgotten the honour of England; and that whenever a hope of facing the enemy was held out to them, order was instantaneously restored, they were themselves again, and, in spite of all their fatigues and sufferings, manifested that invincible courage which, happily for themselves and for their country, they were allowed at last to prove upon the French at Coruña.
Such consequences, however, humiliating as they were, were inevitable in a retreat so conducted. But Sir John Moore’s dispatch contained a more startling avowal, for it was then first made known that he had been advised to propose terms to the enemy, that he might be permitted to embark quietly. It was indeed an unexpected shock to learn that there were officers, and of such rank as to offer advice to the General, who were for asking leave of the French to embark, and purchasing by such dishonour that safety which the army, broken-hearted as it was, without horse, and almost without artillery, won gloriously for itself. From this incalculable evil, this inexpiable disgrace, Sir John Moore had saved us. But who were the men who had so little confidence in British valour, that they would not have fought the battle of Coruña? Who were they who, instead of relying upon their own hearts and hands, would have proposed terms to Marshal Soult, and set the Spaniards an example to which every traitor or every coward among them might have appealed as a precedent for any baseness? This question was not asked in Parliament; nor was any pledge required from Government, or given, that these men should never on any future occasion be trusted with command. Not a single remark was made in either House by either party upon this subject, nor upon any of the information contained in a dispatch which had been loudly called for as of such great importance. It furnished no matter of reproach against the ministry, and therefore it was not the kind of information which their opponents wanted. And ministers themselves could make no use of it in their own justification, for, having it in their hands, they had passed a vote of thanks to the officers and men of whose previous misconduct they possessed these proofs; and instead of defending their own measures by arguing that the campaign might probably have turned out well, and beyond all doubt less disastrously, if the Commander had acted with more vigour and more discretion, they had asserted that every thing had been ably executed, as well as wisely planned.
♦Mr. Frere’s correspondence with Sir John Moore.♦
Some matter, however, for accusation the opposition thought they had found in Mr. Frere’s correspondence with Sir John Moore. They affirmed that the fatal event of the campaign had been caused by his interference, he having been the sole cause of the army’s advance. To have his conduct fairly and impartially considered is what no agent of the British government expects from a party in opposition to the government, the just and honourable feelings of private life being so commonly cast aside in political warfare, that the wonder is when a trace of them is found remaining. But Mr. Frere was attacked with peculiar acrimony, as the intimate friend of Mr. Canning; this being motive enough for virulence when a spirit of faction prevails. He was charged in the most unqualified terms with folly, ignorance, and presumption; it was declared that his incapacity had given Buonaparte the same advantage as that Emperor was accustomed to derive from corruption and treason; and it was announced that an address would be moved for his immediate recall. That intention was not pursued when it was understood that Marquis Wellesley would be appointed to succeed him in the embassy; and upon every point except that of having desired that Colonel Charmilly might be examined before a council of war, his conduct was fully vindicated and ♦1809.
April.♦ approved by the ministers. In so doing they thought he had adopted an improper course; but they proved from the documents which had supplied the grounds of the accusation, that Sir John Moore had not been guilty of the gross fault which his admirers, in their desire of criminating another, imputed to him: he had not made a forward movement which endangered the army contrary to his own judgement, and in deference to an opinion which he disapproved; but upon his own plans, and in consequence of the information which he obtained from an intercepted dispatch.
♦Earl Grey. April 21.♦
In the course of these debates Earl Grey complained that only 2000 cavalry had been sent to Spain, though we had 27,000, and though that description of force was peculiarly necessary in that country; and he contrasted the conduct of the British government with that of Buonaparte, “the consummate general whose plans they had to oppose. In rapidity of execution,” said his lordship, “he is only equalled by his patience in preparing the means. He has all the opposite qualities of Fabius and Marcellus, whether you consider the country in which he acts, the people with whom he has to contend, or the means by which he is to subdue them. He rivals Hannibal in the application of the means, and is exempt from his only fault, that of not improving by past experience. The means provided by Buonaparte for the accomplishment of his purposes are so well combined, and his objects so ably prosecuted, as generally to give him a moral certainty of success; and whatever may be thought of his total disregard of the justice of those objects, it is impossible not to admire the ability and wisdom with which he combines the means of accomplishing them. In order to maintain against such an antagonist the ultimate contest which is to decide for ever the power and independence of this country, the true policy of those who govern it must be, to pay a strict attention to economy, to be actuated by a determination to concentrate our means, not to endanger them in any enterprise or speculation in which the event is doubtful; but pursuing the economical system of husbanding our resources, by which alone we could enable ourselves to continue a contest, the cessation of which does not depend upon us, but upon the injustice of our enemy.”
♦Earl of Liverpool.♦
The Earl of Liverpool remarked, in reply, how singular it was that every one who censured the plan which ministers had followed with regard to Spain had a plan of his own, and that none of those plans should have a single principle of agreement with each other. This at least, he said, showed the difficulty which government must have felt in forming its measures, though it afforded a facility in defending them. As to the accusation of not sending a sufficient force of cavalry, he stated that as much tonnage was required for 5000 horse as for 40,000 foot; and moreover that vessels of a different description were necessary, of which a very limited number could at any time be procured. Yet from 8000 to 9000 horse had been sent, and there would have been not less than 12,000, had not the General countermanded the reinforcements which were ready. Weak as Earl Grey might be pleased to deem the ministers, they had not been so foolish as to expect that the first efforts of the Spaniards would meet with uninterrupted success; they were not yet guilty of calculating upon impossibilities; they had not supposed that such a cause as the cause of Spain, to be fought for with such an enemy as the ruler of France, could be determined in one campaign. Reverses they had met; but those reverses were not owing to the indifference or apathy of the Spaniards; they were imputable to their want of discipline, and to an ill-judged contempt for the French, a proof in itself of their zeal and ardour. And what would have been the general sentiment in that country and in this if our army had retired without attempting any thing? If, when after all her repeated disasters, the spirit of Spain was unsubdued, and her capital bidding defiance to an immense army at the very gates; if a British army, so marshalled and equipped, and after a long march to the aid of their ally, had in that hour of trial turned their backs upon her danger, what would have been thought of the sincerity of our co-operation? “I believe in my conscience,” he continued, “that that movement of Sir John Moore saved Spain. There are some, perhaps, who may be startled at the assertion: it is my fixed and decided opinion, and as such I will avow it. After the destruction of Blake’s army, the defeat of Castaños, and the dispersion of the army of Extremadura, ... after the capitulation of Madrid, which promised to emulate the glory of Zaragoza, and would have done so, had not treachery interposed; if at that crisis Buonaparte had pursued his conquests, by pushing to the southern provinces, the Spanish troops would never have had time to rally there. But that time was given by Sir John Moore’s advance in their favour. Never was there a more effectual diversion. Sir John Moore himself said, that as a diversion it had completely and effectually succeeded. Nor was the moral effect of thus re-animating the spirit of the nation to be overlooked. Let the final issue of the contest be what it may, France has not yet succeeded in subduing Spain. I admit that Buonaparte has 200,000 men in that country; that his troops are of the bravest, and his generals among the most skilful in the world; and, above all, that he has been himself at their head: and yet, with all this, he has not got possession of more territory than he had last year: he only holds such parts as in every war fell to the lot of whichever brought the largest army into the field. I am far from saying, regard being had to the man and the circumstances of the case, that the Spaniards must ultimately succeed; but, at the same time, looking at the spirit they have evinced, and the actions that have happened, particularly the defence of Zaragoza, I cannot feel lukewarm in my hope that their efforts will be crowned with ultimate success. In that fatal contest with America we gained every battle; we took every town we besieged, until the capture of General Burgoyne; and yet the Americans ultimately succeeded, by perseverance, in the contest. In the present struggle, do not the extent and nature of the country afford a hope of success? does not its population forbid despair? We have not lost the confidence of the Spanish people; we know that every true Spanish heart beats high for this country; we know that whatever may happen, they do not accuse us. Submission may be the lot they are fated to endure in the end; but they do not impute to us the cause of their misfortunes: they are sensible that neither the thirst after commerce, nor territory, nor security, is to be imputed to us, in the assistance we have afforded to them upon this important occasion. Whatever may be the result, we have done our duty; we have not despaired; we have persevered, and will do so to the last, while there is any thing left to contend for with a prospect of success.”
♦Mr. Canning.
Mr. Canning also declared, that considering Sir John Moore’s advance in a military point, in his poor judgement he could not but think it a wise measure; but in every view which ennobles ♦1809.
May.♦ military objects by exalting military character, he was sure it was so. With all its consequences and disasters, he preferred it to a retreat at that time. Of those disasters he would not say a word: the battle of Coruña covered every thing; but the retreat itself, and the precipitancy of it, he could never cease to regret. This single expression was the only hint even of censure as to the conduct of the retreat which was heard in Parliament. In the course of the debate an extraordinary confession was made ♦May 9.♦ by Mr. Canning. “During the whole time,” he said, “that these events were passing, government had no means of arguing from the past: the occasion was without precedent, and such as it was impossible to lay their hand on any period of history to parallel, either from its importance with regard to individuals, to this happy country and to Europe, or the difficulty that arose from there being so little knowledge to guide their steps in the actual scene of their operations. Why should government be ashamed to say they wanted that knowledge of the interior of Spain, which they found no one possessed? With every other part of the continent we had had more intercourse: of the situation of Spain we had every thing to learn.” With what contemptuous satisfaction must Buonaparte and the French politicians have heard such a confession from the British secretary of state for foreign affairs! With whatever feelings the government might make this avowal, it was heard with astonishment by the thoughtful part of the people, and not without indignation. To them it was a mournful thing thus to be told that their rulers laid in no stock of knowledge, but lived, as it were, from hand to mouth, upon what they happened to meet with! Is there a country or a province in Europe, it was asked; is there a European possession in any part of the world, of which the French government does not possess maps, plans, and the most ample accounts of whatever may guide its politics, and facilitate its invasion? Even respecting Spanish America, such a confession would have been disgraceful, because it would have betrayed an inexcusable negligence in seeking for information; but as regarding Spain itself, it became almost incredible. Did there not exist faithful and copious accounts of that kingdom, both by foreign and native writers? Had we not still living, diplomatists who had resided for years at the Spanish court; consuls and merchants who had been domesticated, and almost naturalized in Spain; and travellers who, either for their pleasure, or on their commercial pursuits, had traversed every province and every part of the Peninsula? Was not information always to be found, if it were wisely and[12] perseveringly sought?
The truth was, that though we had means adequate to any emergency, troops equal to any service, and generals worthy to command them, Government had the art of war to learn: it had been forgotten in the cabinet since the days of Marlborough and Godolphin. The minds of men expand with the sphere in which they act, and that of our statesmen had long been deplorably contracted. The nation, contented with its maritime supremacy, hardly considered itself as a military power; and had well nigh acquiesced in what the French insultingly proclaimed, and the enemies of the Government sedulously repeated, that we had ceased to be so. We had been sinking into a feeble, selfish policy, which would have withered the root of our strength; its avowed principle being to fix our attention exclusively upon what were called British objects; in other words, to pursue what was gainful, and be satisfied with present safety, regardless of honour, and of the certain ruin which that regardlessness must bring on. The events in Spain had roused the country from a lethargy which otherwise might have proved fatal; and ministers, as undoubtedly the better ♦1809.♦ part of their opponents would have done had they been then in office, heartily participated the national feeling: but when vigorous measures were required, they found themselves without precedent and without system. They had entered, however, into the contest generously and magnanimously, with a spirit which, if it were sustained, would rectify the errors of inexperience, and work its way through all difficulties.
♦Earl Grey.
Earl Grey took occasion in one of his speeches to notice an opinion, that it was of no consequence by which party the administration of affairs was directed. “How can it,” he asked, “be seriously urged, that it is the same thing whether the government be entrusted to incapable persons, or able statesmen? I am really astonished at the absurd extravagance of the doctrine into which men of general good sense and good intentions have been recently betrayed upon this subject.” But no person had ever pretended that it was the same thing whether the government were administered by weak heads or by wise ones. What had been maintained was, that the party out of place was in no respect better than the party in, and in many respects worse: that they did not possess the slightest superiority in talents; that a comparison of principles was wholly to their disadvantage; and that the language respecting the present contest held, even by those among them whose attachment to the institutions of their country could not be doubted, was such as left no hope for the honour of England if it were committed to their hands. The existing ministry acted upon braver and wiser principles, and, whatever errors they committed in the management of the war, to the latest ages it will be remembered for their praise, that in the worst times they never despaired of a good cause, nor shrunk from any responsibility that the emergency required.
♦Expedition to the Scheldt.♦
An error, and one most grievous in its consequences, they committed at this time, by dividing their force, and sending a great expedition against the Isle of Walcheren, as a diversion in aid of Austria, instead of bringing all their strength to bear upon the Peninsula. It was a wise saying of Charles V. that counsels are to be approved or condemned for their causes, not for their consequences. When the causes which led to this unhappy resolution are considered, it will appear imputable in part to the conduct of the Spanish government, still more to that of the opposition in England. By refusing to put us in possession of Cadiz as a point of retreat and safe depôt, the Spaniards afforded their enemies in England an argument in support of their favourite position, that these allies had no confidence in us. The opposition writers did not fail to urge this as an additional proof that they were unworthy of our assistance; and the impression which they laboured to produce was strengthened by persons whose hearts were with their country, but who thought by heaping obloquy upon the Spaniards, and making their very misfortunes matter of accusation against them, to excuse the manner of Sir John Moore’s retreat. To the effect which had been thus produced on public opinion ministers in some degree deferred. They deferred still more to the pitiful maxim that the British government ought to direct its efforts towards the attainment of what were called purely British objects: now there were ships at Antwerp and at Flushing, and it was deemed a British object to destroy the naval resources of the enemy.
Men in England regarded the commencement of the Austrian war with widely different feelings, each party expecting a result in conformity to its own system of opinions. Those journalists who taught as the first political commandment that Buonaparte was Almighty, and that Europe should have none other Lord but him, as from the commencement of the troubles in Spain they had represented the cause of the Spaniards to be hopeless, so they predicted now that that resistless conqueror was only called a while from his career of conquest in the Peninsula to win new victories upon the Danube, after which he would return to the Guadalquivir and the Tagus, and bear down every thing before him there. Others, who had too sanguinely expected immediate success from the Spaniards, with equal but less excusable credulity rested their hopes now upon Austria, ... there, they said, the battle was to be fought, and the fate of Spain as well as of Germany depended upon the issue. The wiser few looked for little from the continental governments, though they knew that much was possible from the people; but from the beginning of this new contest, it appeared to them important chiefly because it effected a diversion in favour of the Spaniards; especially they hoped that England would seize the opportunity, and by meeting the enemy upon that ground with equal numbers, secure a certain and decisive victory.
♦Troops sent to Portugal.♦
Great and unfortunate as the error was of dividing their efforts, the Government acted with a spirit and vigour which have seldom been seen in the counsels of a British cabinet. At a time when they expected that not Spain alone, but Portugal also, would be abandoned by our troops, they made preparations for sending thither another army with all speed, under Sir Arthur Wellesley, who consequently resigned his seat in Parliament, and his office as Chief Secretary in Ireland. Sir John Craddock, who had then the command in Portugal, being a much older officer, was appointed Governor of Gibraltar. ♦Earl of Buckinghamshire.
April 10.♦ The Earl of Buckinghamshire complained of this, as being an ill reward for those exertions in collecting the scattered British force, and preparing it for resistance, to which it was owing that the determination of embarking from Lisbon was abandoned. This complaint drew from the Earl of Liverpool a just tribute to Sir John Craddock’s merits, and some remarks not less just upon the impropriety of bringing such a subject before Parliament, as at once trenching upon the prerogative, and virtually destroying that responsibility which ministers possessed.
Lord Buckinghamshire was of opinion that we had acted unwisely in reinstating the Portugueze Regency; that it became the duty of ♦May 1.♦ ministers to form a provisional government in that country till the subject could be submitted to the Prince of Brazil’s decision; and that when Marquis Wellesley went out as ambassador to Seville, he should take with him powers for making those changes in Portugal which could not be delayed without most serious injury to the common cause of that kingdom and of Spain, and to the security of Great Britain and Ireland. To this it was replied, that what had been done was done because it was presumed to be most in accord with the sentiments of the government in Brazil, at the same time that due regard was paid to the feelings and even the prejudices of the people. Lord Buckinghamshire strongly recommended that we should avail ourselves of the strength of Portugal as a military position, and of the excellent qualities of the Portugueze, which, under good discipline, whenever they had had it, made them among the best soldiers in the world. Such measures for that great purpose had at that time been taken as the Earl of Buckinghamshire wished. That nobleman spoke more wisely upon the affairs of the Peninsula than any other member of the opposition, and without the slightest taint of party spirit. There were some, of whom it would be difficult to say whether their speeches displayed less knowledge of facts, or less regard of them.